Bhubaneswar, June 20: Beneath the glitz and glamour of the Orissa Premier League (OPL) lies hard economics. With the first edition of the OPL having concluded on a high note, it’s time for some stocktaking.

“Brand OPL is worth around Rs 5 crore,” said Pradeep Sethy, chief managing director of AT Housing, which sponsored the tournament. But most others involved in the tournament would beg to differ.

While the Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) raked in Rs 3.65 crore merely from the auction of the 10 franchises, sources said the owners splurged in a big way. Apart from the two big expenses — franchise fee and players’ costs — each franchisee is said to have spent around Rs 8 to 10 lakh on merchandise, travel, brand ambassadors, cheergirls, commercial and print ads among other expenditure.

An insider revealed that some television personalities demanded Rs 5 lakh each to become brand ambassadors for the teams, but finally settled for Rs 2 to 2.5 lakh. “A group of three cheergirls was paid Rs 12,000 to 15,000, excluding food and accommodation,” added the insider.

On the face of it, it seems the broadcasting rights were not sold by the OCA, which, however, agreed to the offer of a Bangalore-based ad agency to get the semi-final and final matches telecast live on Doordarshan. In return, the company gave OCA a sum of Rs 10 lakh to set up a giant screen at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack. Significantly, the same agency designed and maintained the official website of OPL. But both the ventures proved to be costly, sources said.

“We are not here to make money. It’s a misnomer. The OCA, franchisees and everyone involved in organising the league want development of cricket in Orissa. We are not looking at this (OPL) from a business point of view,” said Mrunmay Das, director of the agency.

Speaking on broadcasting rights, OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera said: “Discussions were on with a local news channel but they wanted exclusive rights. So, we could not reach an agreement. It was the age-ncy’s goodwill that they took up the initiative and even paid us Rs 10 lakh. Had we spoken to Doordarshan, we would have had to spend nearly Rs 60 to 70 lakh. The agency would make profits through the advertisements they are able to collect.”

Unquestionably, the OCA has built a reputation for itself by successfully organising the OPL. But what does it stand to gain from this?

Apart from the Rs 3.65 crore out of team auction, the cricket association garnered a title sponsorship fee of Rs 25 lakh paid by AT Housing. The OPL was not a ticketed tournament, which blocked a major source of revenue. Further, neither the OCA nor the franchisees could get major sponsorship since the league was organised within a short time frame.

Behera said the team owners were free to raise money on their own and collect sponsorship but all of them decided to allow free entry for spectators. “They might have earned from minor sponsorships but not enough to cover up for their expenses. Next year, maybe, we would keep ticket prices at a nominal Rs 10 or 20,” he said.

Regarding OCA’s expenditure, Sethy said, on an average, it spent Rs 11 lakh daily, including Rs 2.5 lakh for floodlights and Rs 3.5 lakh for barricading at each venue. It also paid a daily allowance of Rs 300 to each of the players, coaches, managers and support staff on their match days. On other days, the franchisees used to pay them. The OCA also spent nearly Rs 10 lakh on prize money for the four best teams, man of the match/series awards, Rs 25 lakh on opening and closing ceremonies and several lakhs on preparing turf wickets at all five venues, security arrangement and officials’ visit. With such huge costs involved, Behera said the chances of generating profits were slim.

“The franchisees in IPL get returns from the BCCI at the end of the tournament, but here, there is no such hope. Did you find sufficient in-stadia advertising? No. If at all there is any profit, half of it would be given to charity and the other half would be divided equally among all franchisees,” he said.

If not in the first year, when can the franchisees expect to break even? While Behera insists it would be difficult for the franchisees to reach that point in the next two years, sources said Angul and Jagatsinghpur have almost made it in the first year itself. “Both teams earned good amount of sponsorship while an added advantage for Angul was its low cost base,” said a source.

Sethy said there were positive chances for the teams to break even in the second edition of OPL, depending on how each team projects itself. “Their motto was to make the event successful so that from next year, there would be scope for making profits,” Sethy said.

Upbeat over the success of the tournament, the OCA is now gearing up to prepare the blueprint for OPL-II. There are plans to add two more teams in the next edition. Five more venues are likely to be added.

The franchisees had signed a one-year contract with the OCA. However, if they wish to retain the same franchise for the next two years, they would be required to pay 20 per cent more of the previous season’s cost. In case a franchisee withdraws, that team would be re-auctioned.

The players are free to trade themselves. OCA president Ranjib Biswal said the players would be put up for auction again so that each team has the freedom to choose new faces. The base price of the players in all categories is likely to be increased. A final call would be taken by the OPL governing council.

OPL has caught the fancy of the masses and shows promise of an exciting future. Around 30 little-known talents have shot into the limelight and players such as Biplab Samantaray and Nataraj Behera are being considered as probable names for IPL’s next season.

But apart from promotion of cricket and charity, the OCA should look at a marketing model to sustain the league, feels Sethy. “OPL needs to be commercialised so that franchisees and players get some financial benefit. There would be a committee to chalk out strategies on how to get sponsorship for the franchisees and OCA. We can’t afford to make losses every year,” he added.