It’s not just Kolkata’s icon Sourav Ganguly who has been dropped from captaining Shah Rukh Khan’s IPL team this season. The name “Kolkata” has been dropped from all Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) merchandise.
The team is still called KKR, but official sources said this could change to Knight Riders in the next IPL season.
Sources in Reebok, the official merchandise partner for the team, said it was Shah Rukh Khan-owned company’s decision. Hence, the city’s name has been dropped from all T-shirts, socks and accessories.
Sources indicated the company was actively looking at shifting base to other cities following the controversies involving Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy.
The company is registered as Knight Riders Private Ltd and all vouchers are issued under this name. As the team belonged to Kolkata, with seven home-playing matches in Kolkata last season and with Sourav Ganguly’s involvement in them, the brand used for the team name and the merchandise was “Kolkata Knight Riders” in IPL1.
“If the matches had not shifted from Kolkata, the merchandise would have continued to have ‘Kolkata’ Knight Riders written on them,” said the source.
“KKR is more popular as Shah Rukh Khan’s team than for Kolkata. So, merchandise sales will not be affected. Also, shifting base to other cities like Ahmedabad will help the company manage its administrative issues better and keep it away from more controversies. Dropping ‘Kolkata’ from the team’s merchandise will bring worldwide appeal,” said the source. Reebok sources said merchandise sales in India had dipped by more than 30 per cent this year compared with last year but the opportunity to sell merchandise the world over had opened up. “So, there may not be a dip in overall revenues,” said a source.
Financially, Knight Riders was the most successful franchise last year, achieving a profit of Rs 13 crore.
The speculation last year that KKR would shift base from Kolkata to Ahmedabad was fuelled by the money demanded by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) in the last season. However, after a meeting with former ICC and BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, Shah Rukh Khan assured that his team would stay in Kolkata.
There were other controversies around KKR. According to reports, Shah Rukh Khan wanted Sourav Ganguly to speak to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee about the entertainment tax on matches at Eden Garden. Ganguly turned down the request. Also, Shah Rukh was barred by the International Cricket Council Anti-Corruption Unit from entering the dressing room of the team last year.
sourav is greedy, plays for himself, money and introduces politics in the team.... can u tell me guys, why is it only with dada? 1st chappel then buchanan and SRK??? He should leave cricket now to let himself be respected for rest of his life!! IPL is not his field....he should try and play ranji.....and bengalis plz think this b4 telling SRK anything.... I am sure if u were in his plays... u would have done the same thing..... to eliminate the hitler of the team....
Posted by: dada_fan1
January 30 , 2010, 13:44 IST
u r a joker and nothing more than that....
if u hate dada then u hate all bengal so i call a war between u and the bengal..
kkr is nothing if dada is not there..
so shutup ur mouth u loser
"KKR is more popular as Shah Rukh Khan's team than for Kolkata. So, merchandise sales will not be affected. Shah Rukh Khan Selling Kolkata Knight Riders Franchise. Check out more on this at
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Posted by: dj
May 14 , 2009, 12:29 IST
look it is not the matter of sale it is the matter of honour. and having kolkata as ur team is a great honour. Money helped SRK to get but money wont buy him respect and honour. do u think that u ll get the same support and crowd playing at amhedabad. and listen buddy SRk will be kicking is own ass if he leaves a metrocity like kolkata.
Whatever may be the outcome, Sahrukh Khan will be the villain and Nokia may get some boycott call from West Bengal...
Mr. (not) nice,every body thinks about them...Last year, KKR earned more money than anybody else...I would have loved to see ITC or some other Kolkata based Business house to own Kolkata team....Anyhow, next year also KKR will be super flop, whatever the owner does...
good shody work mister kkkkkkkkkkkhan its nice, you showing your true colours right away . Anyways its good that the name of the city with a rich heritage and culture is taken out from a big farce . THANX FOR MAKING IT "KKKKKKKKKKKHAN KKKKKKKKKKNIGHT RRRRRRRRRIDERS" its appropriate that a straight forward city like kolkata has nothing to do with such dual facism and manipulative people of the team.
We dont these stupid peoples in kolkata, Mr Dinesh . You are welcome to take these fools from here. Bengal has developed more than Gujrat. We are investing in foreign companies and all the deals are done. So we are more happier than before. Nano, a stupid car-doesnt makes any sense. we dont need these crapy cars here which will only cause a traffic problem. And talking about buisness Gujrat is nothing compared to Bengal. We congratulate our politicians for throwing the garbage from here.
first the nano and now KKR good work bengalis you are doing well by keeping business out of bengal ...three chears for brand gujrat and narendra modi........and well wishes for budha babu and mummta didi
Posted by: dodo
April 28 , 2009, 18:10 IST
Congrats Sunit, You are now the proud owner of a 600 cc car and a Z grade team.
Posted by: RoyalBengalTiger
April 27 , 2009, 18:44 IST
hi Sunit , Actually the earthquake prone and non-alcoholic state actually is in need of some business to develop as Bengal. And ofcourse never forget one great man said "What Bengal thinks today India thinks tomorrow." . Regarding KKR , SRK has shown his true color which is his actual image behind the screen. After ChakDe India he is actually think himself the "Ek Gunda" of Knight Rider just on the basis of his money.
Posted by: Kaushik
April 24 , 2009, 18:31 IST
This is nothing to do with the bengalis and bengal..a business man has decided to shift his base is solely individual decisions and dont bring the community in between.If sharukh is afraid of budhha dnt forget in ahmedabad modi is waiting for him and how friendly he could be to the khans need not any word to explain.
What is the basis for the claim that KKR made a profit of 13 crores last year? KKR is not a publicly listed company - it is privately owned. How did the correspondents arrive to figuring out the exact amount of profits? Accounts of most teams (excepts Chennai Super Kings) are pure speculation - and it was so for these correspondents, it should have been mentioned.
Shoddy journalism to say the least!
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