Chennai Super Kings eyes 20% growth in revenues

India Cements-owned Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is expecting a 15-20 per cent growth in revenues during the coming season, which starts on April 4, said its vice president - marketing Rakesh Singh.

“The increase in sponsorship, increase in cost of tickets and sales of merchandise are the primary reasons for the growth,” he said, without commenting on specifics. The team has roped in two more sponsors — LifeOk, a new Hindi entertainment channel, and Washington Apple, a fruit-brand.

Last season, the team clocked a revenue of around Rs 140 crore.

The existing sponsors include AirCel, Gulf Oil, TI Cycles, Mansion House, Reebok, The Hindu, UniverCell, Café Coffee Day and Hello FM.

Some of the merchandise products the team sells include caps, shorts, T-shirts, 3-D mugs and sports bottle . “We will also now focus on fashion and lifestyle brands, including CSK ties, polo apparels along with others in the non-CSK colours,” he said.

Last year, the team clocked around Rs 2.5 crore from the sale of merchandise through Reebok and another Rs 1 crore from its merchandise partner Cool Maal. “We are expecting around three times of this during the upcoming season,” said Singh.

“We will increase our presence in Tier-II towns like Tiruchy, Madurai and Tirnueveli in the state,” he said.

Meanwhile, the team is planning to partially pass on the entertainment tax, which was recently announced by the Tamil Nadu Government, to its fans. In September last year, the state government had introduced a Bill, which said 25 per cent would be levied as entertainment tax for IPL matches on the total sum of cash, including the tax amount paid, for getting permission to hold the T20 matches (as part of the IPL) in Chennai.

“We would go for some rearrangements in the ticket cost structure  by which partially we will pass on the burden to the fans,” he said.