Cricket bowled out by terror attacks

Advertisers and broadcasters are set to incur heavy losses from the cricketing properties in which they put their money as a result of the terror attacks in Mumbai.

So far, the two remaining one-dayers in the England tour of India have been cancelled and the fate of the two-Test series is uncertain. The T20 Champions League has also been postponed. Lalit Modi, chairman, Champions League 2020, said it was in the interest of all concerned that the tournament be postponed.

Sports broadcaster ESPN had forked out close to $1 billion to acquire the broadcasting and marketing rights of the Champions League for 10 years. Though no official announcement has been made on whether the tournament will take place or not, it is likely that foreign players will reconsider their decision to participate in it.

The Champions League which had teams from England, South Africa, Australia, Pakistan apart from two domestic teams, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne, Mike Hussey, Shane Watson are among the many high-profile names that were expected to feature in the tournament.

RC Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN India, however, said it is too early to be thinking about the tournament in the aftermath of events that took place in Mumbai. “At this time, we are shocked by the attacks and mourn the sad loss of lives in the Mumbai incidents,” he said.

ESPN, on the other hand, has received lukewarm response so far from marketers for the T20 Champions League. The channel had initially quoted rates around Rs 3.5 lakh for a ten-second spot but experts say these were slashed owing to the economic downturn.

Jain feels that ESPN has invested for a long term in the property and one bad year might not impact the broadcaster too much. Still, if the tournament does get cancelled, ESPN would be riding losses close to Rs 120 crore.

A Delhi-based media planner feels that the economic slowdown have already impacted advertising budgets. So far no big sponsors have come on board for the Champions League. “Marketers don’t stand to lose too much financially but it is an opportunity lost to showcase new campaigns,” added a senior executive of one of the sponsors for India-England series.

Meanwhile, Neo Sports, which had capitalised on the strike between that impacted the general entertainment channels and had done well both in terms of revenue and viewership ratings, will suffer from the cancellation of the one-day series, although the two Test matches might be played later.

Neo had raised ad rates last week from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh for a ten-second spot. With Neo set to lose two ODIs and two test matches, experts estimate that the channel would lose Rs 40-50 crore.

However, media planners feel that five of the seven one-days were over (India has already won the series 5-0) and the Test matches don’t command high viewership. “But still, it is a big loss for them,” says Mona Jain, president Indian Media Exchange.