Maradona visit may draw big sponsors

Celebrity Management Group (CMG), which is bringing argentine football legend Maradona to Kolkata in December, is hoping to generate Rs 12 crore from sponsorships.

At a press conference in Kolkata today, Bhaskar Goswami, executive director of CMG, said, “Maradona will be in the city this December to inaugurate the Indian Football School (IFS) at Maheshtala. He will also be felicitated at the Salt Lake Stadium.

Tickets at the stadium will be priced at close to Rs 100. He will be in Kolkata four forty-eight hours. Maradona will bring his t-shirts and personal belongings to Kolkata which will be auctioned here.” CMG, with support from Shamik Lahiri, a member of Parliament, is setting up a football academy at Maheshtala in West Bengal at an estimated cost of Rs 30-35 crore.

“The stadium will be spread over 60 acres and should be operational by 2011,” said Dharamdutt Pandey, CEO of CMG. Maradona will be in the city on December 6 and 7.

“We have an agreement with Balwens Group, an Uruguayan company, which has the rights to engage the participation of Maradona in all kinds of events outside the Republic of Argentina. Balwens Group is also entitled to assign, in certain countries, the use of the image, voice and name of Maradona for the diffusion, promotion and marketing thereof through mobile devices,” Pandey added.