WHOPPER!!!

1700 crores for a club cricket team? Sahara group has paid 1700 crores for a team which will be primarily based out of Pune. There are talks about having the team based closer to the Amby Valley, with an eye on Mumbai crowd.

Along with this amount of 1700 crores, they have to pay for the actual team and the support staff. The team needs to have super stars and few internationals. The support staff is not cheap any more. Add to it, the costs of their accommodation, food and transportation etc. They also need to rope in a few Bollywood celebrities to add a touch of glamour. Rumor mill says that the Bachchans will be called in to counter the aura of SRK, Preity and Shilpa Shetty. There are ground rentals, security costs and all other costs that my naive, non business minded brain cannot fathom?

How will Subroto Roy recover the funds he is pouring in? 

One of the biggest source of income for this business model is merchandizing. But I am not sure that club loyalties in India can score over fans of role models. Do you ever see anyone paying 1000 rupees for a Pune Patriots branded T shirt or a Kochi Killers Jacket?

They are talking of buying Sachin in the next auction. And Sachin will be cheered wherever he goes, be it Kochi or Kokata. No one will ever reach his stature, even after he retires. But Sachin turns 37 next month and he might not play after a couple of years. The business model should deliver consistent (if not ascending) revenue for 10 years, just to break even.

TV revenue is a big beast in India, but unless Lalit Modi renegotiates the broadcasting contracts and blows more hot air into an already over floated balloon, TV revenue can not guarantee recovery of 200 crores every year.

All in all, I am really looking forward to how this money is recovered. And where breaking even is a challenge, even if they achieve it, it is going to be a failure. You invest 2000 crores and after 10 years, if you end up with 2000 crores, then it is a BIG failure. Banks will yeild more interest.

I am really more glued to the business aspect of IPL than the cricket. I am more interested to the fries and the soda instead of the whopper burger.

Update -- And when I thought my business mind was finally working, S sent me this link which makes me look like a naive B.Com student at an IIM Alumni convention. Read it here. No wonder, everyone who is has a trunkload of money is jumping on the IPL bandwagon.