Beleaguered!

With uncertainty all around, sports leagues in India are bracing for major budget cuts and loss in revenue

- NEERU BHATIA

THE DELHI CAPITALS office on the busy Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, barely 500 metres from the Feroz Shah Kotla ground, wears a deserted look these days. Usually, around this time of the year, it would be abuzz with IPL activity. On match days, the lane leading to the ground would be dotted with vendors selling shirts and caps, enterprising face-painters would paint fans’ faces in team colours for twenty bucks apiece, and a plethora of food carts would come up from nearby Old Delhi to do brisk business.

This year, however, a virus brought the world to its knees and left these vendors high and dry. Though the Indian Super League finished its season just before the lockdown (the final was played without fans), other such leagues face uncertainty. The big question is: If sports do resume without spectators, how massive will be the impact on costs and revenues? “Globally, the sports industry will take a massive hit,” said Mustafa Ghouse, CEO of JSW Sports, which owns teams in three of the domestic leagues. “There will be cuts in terms of spending, marketing, sponsorship; plans will change. Everyone will have to pivot on the commercial side of things to really come out of it.”

The Board of Control for Cricket in India is trying to get a window for the IPL in October-November; the T20I World Cup in October could be pushed to 2021 or 2022. “The IPL is 60 India games versus nine India games in a World Cup, given it reaches the finals,” said an insider. “While viewership of India games in an ICC event is higher, [for] non-India games [it] is really low. What would you choose?”