Indian Super League (ISL), which tends to witness brands investing heavily in on‐ground activations, has received subdued advertiser response as matches will be played behind closed doors starting from 20 November due to the pandemic, said media buyers. The official broadcaster Star India is expected to corner around ₹200 crore in ad revenues mostly from on-air advertising on Star Sports and Disney + Hotstar as fans await the football extravaganza.
Unlike a mature property like the Indian Premier League, which sees high ad volumes, ISL attracts limited advertisers though the partnerships are often long term.
"Most brands tend to associate with ISL for three to five years executing surround activity across on‐ground, in-stadia and on‐air promotions. It helps build a strong connect with their target consumer base, especially in local markets which tend to have loyal football fans. Therefore, this edition would be tough for ISL, given matches will be played behind closed doors, limiting the scope of promotions. I expect a subdued response from brands though they will continue to be committed to the league," said Navin Khemka, chief executive for South Asia, Mediacom.
The title sponsor Hero MotoCorp, for instance, has extended its association with the league for three years. Meanwhile, e‐learning platform Byju's, fantasy sports platform Dream11 and Ayurvedic medicine maker Himalaya Drug Co. have come on board as sponsors despite the pandemic limiting the scope of promotional activities.
The league attracts dedicated fans across regional markets such as Kerala, Goa, West Bengal, Bengaluru and North East. Therefore, key brands such as JSW, TVS Tyres, Kia Motors, Havells and Lloyd have been associated with various ISL clubs. According to sports marketing executives, ISL clubs offer an engaged fan base to these brands, clocking sponsorship revenue of ₹7 to ₹10 crore.
Consumer durables firm Midea, which has been associated with Asean Football Federation and Premier League football club Manchester City globally, on Thursday announced its partnership with Mumbai City FC as club's official partner. For the 2020-21 season, the brand will be featured on the sleeve of the club’s first team shirts and will be visibly present on match days and at the club’s training facility at the Nagoa Village Panchayat Football Ground.
Pranab Mohanty, vice‐president, Midea India Pvt. Ltd, said, “Building on Midea’s collaborations with international football clubs, we are thrilled with our partnership with Mumbai City FC which will deepen the positive impact we are able to make in communities across India. Our association with football is a natural fit as it has a deep-rooted connect with our target audience in India and will help in enhancing Midea’s brand visibility, target audience reach and will create new avenues of collaboration for success."
Given that fans will be watching the matches at home, Star India has introduced virtual fan walls among other fan engagement activities to aim at high viewership. The last edition of the league, which ended in March, recorded a 51% growth in viewership, according to TV ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council India. The jump in viewership has been among the urban affluent sports savvy audience of M15+AB Urban with a cumulative reach of 168 million and 261 million impressions. It was broadcast on 11 channels across the Star Sports and Star India Network in seven languages.
"Hopefully, ISL will show better viewership numbers than last season given that people are still largely restricted to their homes and there's no clash with any other major sports tournament," said Tuhin Mishra, managing director and co-founder of Baseline Ventures.
Moneyball: Analysing the finances of the ISL and its franchises
A statistical study on the ISL clubs' finances and sporting performance throws up a few insights, but perhaps more importantly - reveals some structural problems in which Indian football has remained trapped.
In 2019, the owner of Bengaluru FC, Parth Jindal, said that his club is losing upwards of INR 25 cr every season since they moved from I-League to the ISL. However, a look into the finances of the club establish them as the only ISL franchise to make pre-tax profits in each edition of the ISL. The losses are offset by the parent company JSW and this point towards a financially unsustainable league despite the rise in ISL's profile in India.
The following study was conducted by PhD scholar Sarthak Mondal and his supervisors Dr. Dan Plumley and Dr. Rob Wilson of Sheffield Hallam University, who dug deep into the finances of ISL and its member franchises to find the malaise within the league. The data for this study is between 2014/15 and 2019/20 and was collated from publicly available sources on the internet.
Professional football in India did not have the smoothest of journeys as the NFL and its successor, I-League suffered from failed marketing strategies and disputes arising from failure of player payments. To raise the profile of the game in India, the AIFF signed a 15-year agreement with IMG Reliance worth INR 700 crore, granting them rights to organise a franchise-based tournament by charrging franchise fees from teams to participating in the ISL.
This points towards a US model of operation, but the caveat lies in the fact that ISL charges its member franchises a fee every season to participate and as of 2019/20, they have amassed INR 777.44 crore from franchise fees. Broadcasting money is distributed equally in the ISL, but a total of INR 538.59 crore has been paid out to franchises so far, which is a deficit of INR 238.85 crore to the clubs.
Speaking about this strategy adopted by the FSDL, the authors of the paper suggested that the policy is counter-intuitive as the objective of a league should be generating revenue for its member clubs or franchises. It is also important to note that despite every team earning a chunk of central revenue from the broadcasting rights deal of ISL with Star Network, each franchise has to pay a fee of approximately INR 12 cr as a buy-in to the league.
The franchise fee likely puts unsustainable pressure on most clubs and as evidenced in recent years, Delhi Dynamos FC have renamed themselves to Odisha FC and shifted their base from Delhi to Odisha, while FC Pune City have decided to shut down operations citing unprofitability despite making a pre-tax profit of INR 1.37 cr in 2018–2019.
On financial and sporting performance of ISL clubs
Using the Performance Analysis Model, the authors calculated holistic financial and sporting performances of the ISL clubs and found that the comparative performances of Delhi Dynamos FC (now Odisha FC), ATK FC (now defunct and replaced by ATK Mohun Bagan FC), Kerala Blasters, Mumbai City FC, FC Pune City (now defunct) and Chennaiyin FC have deteriorated over time.
Average revenue figures indicate rapid growth for the period under review. However, there are issues with cost control throughout the ISL, highlighted by the fact that average expense in all six seasons were greater than average turnover amongst the franchises in the study. In the first three editions of the ISL, none of the eight participating franchises made a pre-tax profit. Furthermore, total debt has also inflated by 212 percent (increasing from INR 26.45 cr to INR 82.43 cr), pointing towards issues with managing debt.
The Indian Super League was developed to capitalise on the growth prospects of football in India, but the results show financial problems at the franchise level that have, in some ways, restricted growth. The franchises have seen rising revenues in recent years, but they have also both struggled with cost control problems, which is not dissimilar to other professional leagues in the world such as the English Premier League or La Liga.
The relationship between financial and sporting performance over six seasons were assessed by the authors as well and they have found that the best performing clubs are Bengaluru FC and Chennaiyin FC.
These clubs have been able to maintain a good financial performance alongside good sporting performance in relation to their competitors. However, the paper finds no evidence that better financial health leads to better sporting performance. This is likely because the data scrutinised by the paper only analyses 6 seasons of data and therefore cannot make definitive conclusions.
The financial situation within the ISL does pose a significant challenge for the clubs if they are not self-sustainable with many ISL franchises reliant on their owners for financial support. Furthermore, it must be noted that apart from Jamshedpur FC (one of the two existing clubs to make a profit), none of the clubs own their stadium. A stadium is one of the few tangible assets that football teams own and the ability to own your stadium and be able to maximise revenue streams from it is an important component of the business models of football clubs.
"It would be advisable for franchises to own their stadium as they will be able to maximise revenues from it in the long run by hosting other non-sporting events in the off-season or non-match days such as birthday parties, business conferences, and music concerts. This model is adopted by various clubs in the world such as Chelsea FC, Real Madrid and Manchester United among others," Sarthak added.
The ISL also faces further challenges at governance level due to its peculiar structure and arrangements between the league, franchises, and broadcasters. From a governance perspective, these need addressing so that the game can move forward. This in turn may then make it a more attractive proposition for external commercial partners.
The market potential for Indian football remains considerable in one of the largest and most populated countries on the planet. Having a strong, elite level football league that is attractive in international markets could be the catalyst for significant growth for Indian football as a whole. As well-wishers of Indian football, we hope thesessues are resolved as the new rights starting from 2024-2025 are yet to be negotiated.
The entire research paper, titled 'The other ISL: analysing the finances of the Indian Super League (football) and its franchisees', written by Sarthak Mondal, Dan Plumley and Rob Wilson (all from Sheffield Hallam University), can be accessed here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23750472.2022.2055625?cookieSet=1
FSDL gave a loan of INR 10 crores to Mohun Bagan Football Club in 2020-21, company's financial statement reveals
Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) cited on their financial statements that the companyhad given a loan of ₹10 crores to Mohun Bagan Football Club in the financial year of 2021-22. Incidentally, they own and operate the Indian Super League (ISL)
According to the official report, the loan amount, which was given out on April 1, 2021, was waived off by the company before the due date of repayment. The amount has led to a decline in FSDL's non-concurrent assets from ₹50.43 crore as of March 31, 2021, to ₹30.46 crore a year later.
Furthermore, the accrued interest on the loan of ₹1.91 crore, which was payable by Mohun Bagan, was also waived off by the company during FY 2021-22. The report cited that the loan was proposed to be used for business purposes by the Kolkata club.
So far, there has been no detailed clarification from either party about the loan and its purpose, however, it has given rise to ample of speculation across social media.
Comments
Football leagues' main income derived from broadcast auction revenue.
The broadcasting sports channel get back the auctioned amount from tv ads and "tv channel subscription amount".
In ISL, there is no broadcast auction. Star India keep the broadcasting right.
Star India earn more than 100 Crore monthly through subscription amount from one sports channel all over India.
Does Star India give a portion of the tv channel subscription revenue to ISL?
If not, This is the reason to ISL clubs not make profit.
On-ground sponsors take a back seat at ISL
Indian Super League (ISL), which tends to witness brands investing heavily in on‐ground activations, has received subdued advertiser response as matches will be played behind closed doors starting from 20 November due to the pandemic, said media buyers. The official broadcaster Star India is expected to corner around ₹200 crore in ad revenues mostly from on-air advertising on Star Sports and Disney + Hotstar as fans await the football extravaganza.
Unlike a mature property like the Indian Premier League, which sees high ad volumes, ISL attracts limited advertisers though the partnerships are often long term.
"Most brands tend to associate with ISL for three to five years executing surround activity across on‐ground, in-stadia and on‐air promotions. It helps build a strong connect with their target consumer base, especially in local markets which tend to have loyal football fans. Therefore, this edition would be tough for ISL, given matches will be played behind closed doors, limiting the scope of promotions. I expect a subdued response from brands though they will continue to be committed to the league," said Navin Khemka, chief executive for South Asia, Mediacom.
The title sponsor Hero MotoCorp, for instance, has extended its association with the league for three years. Meanwhile, e‐learning platform Byju's, fantasy sports platform Dream11 and Ayurvedic medicine maker Himalaya Drug Co. have come on board as sponsors despite the pandemic limiting the scope of promotional activities.
The league attracts dedicated fans across regional markets such as Kerala, Goa, West Bengal, Bengaluru and North East. Therefore, key brands such as JSW, TVS Tyres, Kia Motors, Havells and Lloyd have been associated with various ISL clubs. According to sports marketing executives, ISL clubs offer an engaged fan base to these brands, clocking sponsorship revenue of ₹7 to ₹10 crore.
Consumer durables firm Midea, which has been associated with Asean Football Federation and Premier League football club Manchester City globally, on Thursday announced its partnership with Mumbai City FC as club's official partner. For the 2020-21 season, the brand will be featured on the sleeve of the club’s first team shirts and will be visibly present on match days and at the club’s training facility at the Nagoa Village Panchayat Football Ground.
Pranab Mohanty, vice‐president, Midea India Pvt. Ltd, said, “Building on Midea’s collaborations with international football clubs, we are thrilled with our partnership with Mumbai City FC which will deepen the positive impact we are able to make in communities across India. Our association with football is a natural fit as it has a deep-rooted connect with our target audience in India and will help in enhancing Midea’s brand visibility, target audience reach and will create new avenues of collaboration for success."
Given that fans will be watching the matches at home, Star India has introduced virtual fan walls among other fan engagement activities to aim at high viewership. The last edition of the league, which ended in March, recorded a 51% growth in viewership, according to TV ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council India. The jump in viewership has been among the urban affluent sports savvy audience of M15+AB Urban with a cumulative reach of 168 million and 261 million impressions. It was broadcast on 11 channels across the Star Sports and Star India Network in seven languages.
"Hopefully, ISL will show better viewership numbers than last season given that people are still largely restricted to their homes and there's no clash with any other major sports tournament," said Tuhin Mishra, managing director and co-founder of Baseline Ventures.
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/indian-super-league-to-see-muted-advertising-11605780884319.html
Neeta ji ka thulu?
@munna219777
A statistical study on the ISL clubs' finances and sporting performance throws up a few insights, but perhaps more importantly - reveals some structural problems in which Indian football has remained trapped.
In 2019, the owner of Bengaluru FC, Parth Jindal, said that his club is losing upwards of INR 25 cr every season since they moved from I-League to the ISL. However, a look into the finances of the club establish them as the only ISL franchise to make pre-tax profits in each edition of the ISL. The losses are offset by the parent company JSW and this point towards a financially unsustainable league despite the rise in ISL's profile in India.
The following study was conducted by PhD scholar Sarthak Mondal and his supervisors Dr. Dan Plumley and Dr. Rob Wilson of Sheffield Hallam University, who dug deep into the finances of ISL and its member franchises to find the malaise within the league. The data for this study is between 2014/15 and 2019/20 and was collated from publicly available sources on the internet.
Professional football in India did not have the smoothest of journeys as the NFL and its successor, I-League suffered from failed marketing strategies and disputes arising from failure of player payments. To raise the profile of the game in India, the AIFF signed a 15-year agreement with IMG Reliance worth INR 700 crore, granting them rights to organise a franchise-based tournament by charrging franchise fees from teams to participating in the ISL.
This points towards a US model of operation, but the caveat lies in the fact that ISL charges its member franchises a fee every season to participate and as of 2019/20, they have amassed INR 777.44 crore from franchise fees. Broadcasting money is distributed equally in the ISL, but a total of INR 538.59 crore has been paid out to franchises so far, which is a deficit of INR 238.85 crore to the clubs.
Speaking about this strategy adopted by the FSDL, the authors of the paper suggested that the policy is counter-intuitive as the objective of a league should be generating revenue for its member clubs or franchises. It is also important to note that despite every team earning a chunk of central revenue from the broadcasting rights deal of ISL with Star Network, each franchise has to pay a fee of approximately INR 12 cr as a buy-in to the league.
The franchise fee likely puts unsustainable pressure on most clubs and as evidenced in recent years, Delhi Dynamos FC have renamed themselves to Odisha FC and shifted their base from Delhi to Odisha, while FC Pune City have decided to shut down operations citing unprofitability despite making a pre-tax profit of INR 1.37 cr in 2018–2019.
On financial and sporting performance of ISL clubs
Using the Performance Analysis Model, the authors calculated holistic financial and sporting performances of the ISL clubs and found that the comparative performances of Delhi Dynamos FC (now Odisha FC), ATK FC (now defunct and replaced by ATK Mohun Bagan FC), Kerala Blasters, Mumbai City FC, FC Pune City (now defunct) and Chennaiyin FC have deteriorated over time.
Average revenue figures indicate rapid growth for the period under review. However, there are issues with cost control throughout the ISL, highlighted by the fact that average expense in all six seasons were greater than average turnover amongst the franchises in the study. In the first three editions of the ISL, none of the eight participating franchises made a pre-tax profit. Furthermore, total debt has also inflated by 212 percent (increasing from INR 26.45 cr to INR 82.43 cr), pointing towards issues with managing debt.
The Indian Super League was developed to capitalise on the growth prospects of football in India, but the results show financial problems at the franchise level that have, in some ways, restricted growth. The franchises have seen rising revenues in recent years, but they have also both struggled with cost control problems, which is not dissimilar to other professional leagues in the world such as the English Premier League or La Liga.
The relationship between financial and sporting performance over six seasons were assessed by the authors as well and they have found that the best performing clubs are Bengaluru FC and Chennaiyin FC.
These clubs have been able to maintain a good financial performance alongside good sporting performance in relation to their competitors. However, the paper finds no evidence that better financial health leads to better sporting performance. This is likely because the data scrutinised by the paper only analyses 6 seasons of data and therefore cannot make definitive conclusions.
The financial situation within the ISL does pose a significant challenge for the clubs if they are not self-sustainable with many ISL franchises reliant on their owners for financial support. Furthermore, it must be noted that apart from Jamshedpur FC (one of the two existing clubs to make a profit), none of the clubs own their stadium. A stadium is one of the few tangible assets that football teams own and the ability to own your stadium and be able to maximise revenue streams from it is an important component of the business models of football clubs.
"It would be advisable for franchises to own their stadium as they will be able to maximise revenues from it in the long run by hosting other non-sporting events in the off-season or non-match days such as birthday parties, business conferences, and music concerts. This model is adopted by various clubs in the world such as Chelsea FC, Real Madrid and Manchester United among others," Sarthak added.
The ISL also faces further challenges at governance level due to its peculiar structure and arrangements between the league, franchises, and broadcasters. From a governance perspective, these need addressing so that the game can move forward. This in turn may then make it a more attractive proposition for external commercial partners.
The market potential for Indian football remains considerable in one of the largest and most populated countries on the planet. Having a strong, elite level football league that is attractive in international markets could be the catalyst for significant growth for Indian football as a whole. As well-wishers of Indian football, we hope thesessues are resolved as the new rights starting from 2024-2025 are yet to be negotiated.
The entire research paper, titled 'The other ISL: analysing the finances of the Indian Super League (football) and its franchisees', written by Sarthak Mondal, Dan Plumley and Rob Wilson (all from Sheffield Hallam University), can be accessed here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23750472.2022.2055625?cookieSet=1
https://thebridge.in/football/isl-clubs-finances-structural-problem-analysis-33028?infinitescroll=1
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/23750472.2022.2055625?needAccess=true&role=button
1⃣ The company reported a loss of Rs 46.30 crores in 2021-22 compared to a loss of Rs 13.69 crores in 2020-21 #ISL #IndianFootball
3⃣ Revenue from operations -
2020-21
Income from Sponsorship - 1.79 crores
Income from Event Mgmt. - 227.81 crores
Income from Participation - 135.90 crores
2021-22
Income from Event Mgmt. - 253.59 crores
Income from Participation - 136.01 crores
4⃣ Operational Expenses (2020-21)
Stadium costs - 11.12 crores
Players, Commentators & other professional fees - 12.39 crores
Central Rights Distribution - 171.29 crores
Fees for commercial rights - 42 crores
Advertisement & Promotional - 20 cr.
Event Mgmt. Expenses - 69.28 cr.
Prize Money - 15.93 crores
Travelling Expenses - 25.06 crores
General Expenses - 32 lacs
5⃣ Operational Expenses (2021-22)
Stadium costs - 10.17 crores
Players, Commentators & other professional fees - 22.85 crores
Central Rights Distribution - 179.95 crores
Fees for commercial rights - 42 crores
Advertisement & Promotional - 22.39 cr.
Event Mgmt. Expenses - 75 cr.
Prize Money - 15.98 crores
Travelling Expenses - 41.70 crores
General Expenses - 11.81 crores
Current assets were almost flat at Rs 399.09 crores versus Rs 387.39 crores last year.
Employee benefits expense increased to Rs 11.12 crores from Rs 9.18 crores last year.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1681509151644741632.html
FSDL gave a loan of INR 10 crores to Mohun Bagan Football Club in 2020-21, company's financial statement reveals
Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) cited on their financial statements that the companyhad given a loan of ₹10 crores to Mohun Bagan Football Club in the financial year of 2021-22. Incidentally, they own and operate the Indian Super League (ISL)According to the official report, the loan amount, which was given out on April 1, 2021, was waived off by the company before the due date of repayment. The amount has led to a decline in FSDL's non-concurrent assets from ₹50.43 crore as of March 31, 2021, to ₹30.46 crore a year later.
Furthermore, the accrued interest on the loan of ₹1.91 crore, which was payable by Mohun Bagan, was also waived off by the company during FY 2021-22. The report cited that the loan was proposed to be used for business purposes by the Kolkata club.
So far, there has been no detailed clarification from either party about the loan and its purpose, however, it has given rise to ample of speculation across social media.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/indian-football/news-fsdl-gave-loan-inr-10-crores-mohun-bagan-football-club-2020-21-company-s-financial-statement-reveals