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Pakistan cashes in on
cricket
By Arun Bhattacharjee
NEW DELHI - As India prepares to hit the pitch
next month for its first full-fledged cricket tour of
Pakistan in over 14 years, companies are duking it out
for advertising spots, with investment expected to go
well over US$20 million. The major battle is likely to
come to an end in the next few days, when a decision
will be made over which single multi-national
corporation will be granted the sponsorship rights to
the groundbreaking series. But just like in cricket,
there can be only one real winner, and in this case it
is the cash-strapped Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
For years, Test cricket matches between Pakistan
and India excited both Muslims and Hindus from Dubai to
Kolkata, along with 450 million others around the world.
But what makes the matches different this time - apart
from the ongoing peace process between the two
adversaries - is that for the first time ever, the Test
series offers enormous economic and brand promotion
opportunities to multi-national and Indian companies in
Pakistan, where security risks and political instability
had previously blocked growth.
Suffering an
estimated loss of around $35 million when India and New
Zealand called off their scheduled visits to the country
in 2001 and 2002 - the former following a diplomatic row
and the latter citing security concerns - the PCB is
taking full advantage of the cash bonanza on which it's
sitting. A spokesman for the Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI) says that the PCB will now be
able to generate more funds to promote more Pakistan
cricket teams to play abroad.
India will play
three five-day Tests and five one-day internationals,
besides a three-day warm-up match in March-April.
Sponsorship bids for the Tests have reached $8 million,
with multi-nationals such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, LG, Sony,
Suzuki, Daewoo, Unilever, Phillip Morris, BAT and three
global banks all vying for slots, and several Indian
companies are even seeking joint venture routes into
Pakistan by using cricket as a springboard. The PCB has
even disowned one of its members seeking sponsorship
through India, saying that the board had already signed
a broadcast contract with a group for $12.2 million,
making the total over $20 million as major channels like
ESPN, Star Sports and a few others are negotiating for
sub-contracts.
"This time bidding is more
intense, and the global companies are ready to go very
high," says Nitin Jain, head of the media buying giant
Mindshare. The queue for sponsorship of the series is
undoubtedly longer this time, with newcomers such as the
ExxonMobile, Shell and oil majors from India, who never
sought sponsorship or display rights before.There are
major tussles as well over the broadcasting concerning
TV channels and global distribution rights. Major Indian
companies aiming for sponsorships include Airtel, the
fast-growing cell phone services operator, the private
Airline Sahara, besides Jet Air, Emirates Airline, Gulf
Air and Honda Motors of Japan. Anil Arora, head of
marketing at LG in India, confirmed his company was
bidding as well.
A week ago, major Indian
newspapers carried prominent advertisements released by
the PCB seeking sponsors from India, shunning its
earlier stand that Indian companies would receive no
favoritism, further proof that the PCB is out for
garnering maximum benefits from the series, as most
international teams shy away from playing in Pakistan
fearing the country's Islamic extremists.
On the
surface, these high-stake bidding wars over sponsorship
rights appear to mimic that of other major sporting
events, like the World Soccer Cup or the Super Bowl. But
there is one notable exception, attributed to Pakistan's
conservative nature. Spectators watching the
Pakistan-India series won't be inundated with the usual
barrage of beer ads, as Pakistani cricket authorities
have barred alcohol advertisements on cricket grounds.
(Alcohol is banned in Pakistan in all but some "Western
areas", such as international hotels, and no alcohol
advertisements are allowed in the media or outdoors.)
Needless to say, there will be no musical interludes
involving indecently exposed mega-stars either.
Meanwhile, one entity that is already guaranteed
to see a hefty profit is television rights holder Taj
Entertainment Network (TEN Sports). Dubai-based TEN
Sports pays the PCB an assured guarantee of $9 million
for the Pakistan series. In 2002, TEN won the television
rights for all cricket matches played in Pakistan for
the next five years at a cost of $42 million. Making the
most of its opportunity, TEN Sports is charging
advertisers a pretty penny, with rates ranging between
$18,000 and $20,000 for a slot.
Politics and
security
The fallout from the India-Pakistan Test
series covers issues that go well beyond the Lahore
stadium's green turfs, involving political and security
issues with global implications. Politicians, never to
let an opportunity for self-promotion pass them by, are
taking full advantage of the series. While the PCB works
out the details with its counterparts, the Pakistani
government is trying to cash in on the event's political
mileage by indicating the possibility of Pakistan
President General Pervez Musharraf flagging off the
series.
But perhaps the most bizarre twist to
the event came from the information technology-promoting
chief minister Chandrababu Naidu of India's Andhra
Pradesh state. Naidu cautioned the election commissioner
of India and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to
avoid polling on the days overlapping the Tests in
Pakistan as the voters would be glued to their TV sets
instead of going to the polling stations. A poor turnout
of voters could boomerang for the National Democratic
Alliance coalition of Vajpayee.
And while
politicians worry about holding onto their jobs, the PCB
is busy assuring that the Indian players will receive
the same class of security cover that Musharraf enjoys -
considered necessary given the two failed attempts on
his life late last year. The PCB says it is working hard
with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to
tackle these security issues. A BCCI team, including
Indian security experts, has been in Pakistan for weeks
to work out security covers for the players.
Previously, Indian players expressed their fear
over the security of the team when playing in Karachi
and Peshawar, given the hardline Islamic fundamentalists
opposed to the Pakistani president, and against the
peace process. But a BCCI source says Indian players
will play in Pakistan as scheduled, as the board is
satisfied with the security promised by Pakistan,
although newspapers in India are making sarcastic
comments that they hoped the BCCI members will also be
traveling in the buses transporting the players from the
hotels to the venues of the Tests.
But India's
government feels cricket diplomacy will help promote the
people-to-people contacts between the two countries that
underlines India's basis for peace negotiations, and
push the peace offensive forward. Pakistan, on the other
hand, is keen that the cricket series be followed by a
similar series in India, which will inevitably fire up
another sponsorship battle.
(Copyright 2004 Asia
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