Salman Khan, Sachin Tendulkar among Super League owners:

Mumbai: The Indian Super League, a football tournament modelled after the popular Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket championship, on Sunday announced a list of eight teams. The inaugural season of the football league is expected to take place in September-November.

The winnings bids for the eight teams were placed by individuals well as consortia. The bid for Mumbai was won by Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor and Bimal Parekh, a chartered accountant. Guwahati was won by Bollywood actor and producer John Abraham and the Shillong Lajong, an I-league team. Bollywood actor Salman Khan teamed up with Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan of the Wadhawan Group to pick up the winning bid for Pune.

 

 

Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar tied up with PVP Ventures Ltd to place the winning bid for Kochi. A consortium led by former cricketer Sourav Ganguly and Spanish league team Atlético Madrid, along with Harshavardhan Neotia of the Ambuja Neotia Group, Sanjiv Goenka of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group and Utsav Parekh, non-executive chairman at SMIFS Capital Markets Ltd, bid for Kolkata.

The Sun Group won the bid of team Bangalore, while Sameer Manchanda-led Den Networks Ltd won the bid for Delhi. A consortium comprising Venugopal Dhoot of the Videocon Group, industrialist Dattaraj Salgaocar and Shrinivas V. Dempo, chairman of the Dempo Group, placed the winning bid for Goa.

 

The organizers, IMG Reliance and Star India, received positive response to bids from more than 30 parties. The entry price to owning a team was Rs.12 crore to begin with. On an average, each of the teams bid some Rs.15 crore, a person close to the development said on the condition of anonymity.

Star India refused to comment on the value of the winning bids.

The league has the backing of the All India Football Federation, and is set to see big names such as former France international Robert Pirès and ex-Sweden and Arsenal player Freddie Ljungberg.

“Going by some of the investors who have come on board for the Indian Super League, a number of them are in a position to make that long-term investment in the sport,” said Jaideep Ghosh, a partner at consultancy KPMG in India. “They may even look to gain in the short term, from the positive rub-off of being associated with an upcoming and fairly glamourous sport.”

 

Gauri Kesarwani.

PGDM- 2nd sem

Source: LiveMint.