At the cricket World Cup last year, while the men in blue were unable to bag the trophy, many businesses emerged winners with big pay cheques from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The highest payments made by BCCI were to companies across categories including advertising, airlines and hotels, among others, between August to November last year, according to disclosures of payments above Rs 25 lakh made by the cricket board available on its website.
Big deals
During this period, the biggest deal from BCCI for the cricket World Cup was bagged by sports marketing company TCM (Twenty First Century Media) which received payments of Rs 38.6 crore.
Of this amount, Rs 3.4 crore was towards organising the mid-innings ceremony at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, in the final, while the rest was for PR and marketing services of the entire tournament. According to the company’s website, it was the official agency for the static signage production and management across all stadiums during the cricket extravaganza.
Media investment company GroupM, which helps businesses plan out their advertising, was the second in the list with payments of Rs 23.47 crore, according to the disclosures made by BCCI.
Airline Vistara came third in the list with payments totalling Rs 8 crore, followed by DNA Entertainment at Rs 6.9 crore and Akasa at Rs 3 crore. The other big payments were Rs 2.9 crore made to ground transportation company KTC India Pvt Ltd, Rs. 2.5 crore to ITC Hotels and Rs 2 crore to SpiceJet.
Also read: India matches recorded maximum ad volume share in ICC World Cup 2023: Report
To be sure, this is not an exhaustive list as some dues might not have been cleared by November-end, or could have been broken down into payments of less than Rs 25 lakh.
High flyers
As per the disclosures, air travel constituted a big chunk of BCCI's payments for the cricket World Cup at Rs 16 crore. Apart from airline companies, chartered flight firms like Air Charter Service India Private Ltd and Charter X received payments of Rs 2 crore and Rs 90 lakh, respectively.
BCCI's payments to airlines for the 2023 cricket world cup.
For accommodation, the BCCI paid hotels a total of Rs 10.4 crore for the duration of the cricket World Cup. Hotels including Radisson Blu Dharamshala, Leela Palace Chennai, Trident Nariman Point and ITC Narmada Ahmedabad bagged the biggest deals with payments of Rs 1.5 crore, Rs 99 lakh, Rs 95 lakh and Rs 86 lakh, respectively.
Other interesting payments for the cricket World Cup 2023 includes a payment of Rs 1.6 crore to security solutions company Eagle Hunter.
The cricket associations of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Mumbai, Maharashtra and Karnataka bagged Rs 10.8 crore each as hosting venue fees for the world cup. Tamil Nadu was the highest grosser at Rs 11.8 crore. The cricket associations of Assam and Kerala fetched only Rs 2.7 crore each, while Hyderabad got Rs 8.1 crore.
Payments made by BCCI for accommodation for the 2023 cricket World Cup.
Also read: ODI World Cup is for sport, not economy
The World Cup boost
In FY23, BCCI saw an uptick in its earnings after a dip in the preceding year due to Covid-19 that restricted the number of tournaments. The cricket board recorded revenue of Rs 6,558.80 crore in the last financial year, up from Rs 4,360.57 crore generated in the 2021-22 financial year, BCCI Treasurer Ashish Shelar had said during the Annual General Meeting held in September last year.
BCCI had also pointed out a boost in its income for the current fiscal year (FY24), amounting to Rs 2,198.23 crore.
According to BCCI's earnings shared before Parliament in August last year, the cricket board registered income of $919 million (Rs 7,568 crore at current exchange rates) and expenditure of $370 million (Rs 3,077 crore) for the fiscal year ending March 2022 with a surplus of $549 million (Rs 4,549 crore).
It is also estimated that the cricket board stands to earn around $230 million (Rs 1,913 crore) annually between 2024 and 2027, or 38.5 percent of the International Cricket Council's yearly profits of $600 million (Rs 4,990 crore).
Estimates by brokerage firms signalled a significant contribution of the World Cup to the Indian economy. Economists at Bank of Baroda last year estimated a $2.6 billion (Rs 21,622 crore) addition to the country's economy while a Kotak Securities report projected the cricket tournament adding around Rs 13,500 crore to the Indian economy.
Sectors that benefitted the most from the cricket World Cup 2023 were travel, hospitality, media and entertainment, retail, food and beverage, according to experts.
Firms that bagged biggest payments from BCCI for the 2023 cricket World Cup.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
