BCCI Making More Money Than it has in its History – Rahul Johri
Sep 5, 2017 at 11:24 AM
“It is a game-defining moment. Look at the most aggressive digital bid that came today. It came from a hardcore American company (Facebook) which has never had cricket on its radar. If you look at the interests of Sony and Star and ultimately the final number (winning bid), this is by far the highest number that has been put on cricket.”
The cricket’s most powerful board is set to become even more empowered with the new deal. Johri believes this is because of the growing economy in India which is making the companies go for crazy amounts.
“It is a testimony to the fact that any company which wants to target a growing economy like India, there’s nothing better than cricket. The sheer confidence of a company to put this kind of amount on the table proves it. I expect an equally aggressive bid when the India rights come up.“The reason for that is cricket transcends language boundaries.There are two ways to reach the audience in India cricket and cinema. Cinema has language barriers. Cricket doesn’t. Cricket is an ideal platform for any strong business which wants to establish itself in India or wants to jump start in India. Television or digital is purely incidental.”
BCCI is also set to sell bilateral rights for all the series held in India as the contract with Star India will be expired at the end of the ongoing season. Johri revealed that the new deal would happen early next year to award the rights to the highest bidder once again.
“The BCCI bilateral rights are there till March 31. I don’t want to hazard a guess right now, but it’ll happen before that. I’d rather say `early next year’.”
BCCI has managed to pull off massive some deals over the past year with Oppo becoming the new kit sponsor in a record deal, and then Vivo renewed IPL title rights for an eye popping sum.
“It’s a great compliment to cricket in India that in one year, the BCCI has ended up making more money than it has in its entire history,” Johri said. For the management of BCCI, cricket is supreme. So long as we stay focused and transparent, the revenue will come,” he added.