Lalit K. Modi has changed the business and face of cricket worldwide. Since taking over marketing at the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2005, he has packaged and monetized the game—and says there’s much more to sell. Modi and the BCCI face a match later this month that India has not seen before—in the form of Zee TV’s parallel Indian Cricket League (ICL). In an interview with Mint, Modi talks about the competition and plans to improve his own game, as well as Team India’s. Edited excerpts:
Let’s get right to it. How rich isthe board?
It’s not as if the board is rich. Yes, the board earns a lot of money. We also have a large expense, 80% of the money we earn in a particular year is spent the same year.
Can you quantify turnover?
Modi says Zee TV’s Indian Cricket League has nothing to do with inter-city tournaments
It’s difficult. There are so many different streams of revenues, one is the broadcasting stream, one is the ground advertising stream, then comes team sponsorship revenue. There are ancillary revenues. In a typical ODI (one-day international) match, we make close to $8.5 million broadcasting revenue, and our rate is Rs45 (to the dollar), not Rs40. Contracts are based on exchange rate on that date.
Then there is Sahara (which is the team sponsor) revenue, Nike (apparel sponsor) revenue... comes to a million dollars per day per match. Ground sponsorship revenue is between $1.6 million and $1.7 million per day.
And then ticket revenue would be depending on venue, could be as high as $3 million a day. Guwahati (the site of the first match in the current series between India and Pakistan) may be on the lower side. And there are other streams… We have partnerships with hotels (Taj), airlines (Jet offers a 45% discount)… It all adds up.
This is for ODIs, right? Are ODIs keeping Tests alive?
Tests and ODIs are pretty much the same. In Tests, ticket sales are over five days, we get similar revenues in Tests; we don’t calculate figures but there’s a treasury office and I don’t do that.
How do you fashion yourself in regard to cricket, a fan or a businessman?
I’m a fan who’s motivated. My business background has helped get a better understanding of how BCCI can monetize the game
You have also “brokered” telecast rights.
Yes, I started (sports channel) ESPN in partnership with them in 1994, I got a very good understanding of the broadcasting market, of the TV market in general. That helped in knowing what value cricket should be from (the) advertisers’ perspective, rightsholders’ perspective, broadcasters’ perspective
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