PLS earns Rs 797.5 mn from sale of franchises

MUMBAI: The organisers of Premier League Soccer (PLS) have earned Rs 797.5 million from the sale of six franchises, signalling that even football can attract more money in a format tailored like the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Haldia completed the full circle of franchises, going to Kolkata-based entertainment company Grey Mind Communications.

Grey bought the Haldia franchise for Rs 85 million for a period of 10 years, CMG executive director Bhaswar Goswami told Indiantelevision.com. The base price for the franchise was Rs 7 million.

The team which is yet to finalise its name has roped in Argentina?s 2006 World Cup captain Juan Pablo Sorin as their icon player, while John Barnes will be their coach.

Haldia had remained unsold even though the organisers had made it mandatory to submit a tender for at least three locations. The bidders who had kept Haldia as one of the three options, successfully bagged franchises of their first preference.

Even the sixth unsuccessful bidder had not kept Haldia as one of its options. This meant that the franchise had to wait to find a franchise owner.

Goswami disclosed that the company has clubbed South Asia rights of the league with global media rights, which has been sold to international sports media company MP & Silva.

Earlier, the South Asia rights were excluded from the global rights. The deal with MP & Silva will be a mix of minimum guarantee and revenue share. Goswami, however, refused to detail the financials.

The inaugural edition of PLS featuring six teams is all set to clash with big brother IPL. The first match of the ambitious football league kicks off on 24 March while the finals are scheduled to be held on 6 May. It will, thus, collide with the cash-rich IPL which will be staged from 4 April to 27 May.

PLS, which is also India?s first franchise-based soccer league, will involve 36 matches including 30 league matches, five semi-finals on a home and away basis and the finals.

The league boasts of a prize money of Rs 20 million with winners taking away Rs 15 million while the runners-up get Rs 5 million.

The names of five other franchises that were auctioned last month have been finalised.

The five official teams are: Kolkata Camelians (team Kolkata); Barasat Euro Musketeers (team Barasat); Durgapur Vox Champions (team Durgapur); Howrah Manchester (team Howrah) and Bengal Tuskers (team Siliguri).

Meanwhile, IFA (WB) secretary Utpal Ganguli has revealed that the auction for Indian players will be refurbished by early March before the pre-season training begins.

He also stated that the work for refurbishing all the six match venues will begin soon and be completed before the beginning of pre-season camps. The IFA is considering a mix of Indian and international referees for the tournament.

Each of the PLS franchise will have a squad of 30 players maximum. This includes one icon player, two overseas players and one overseas player of Asian origin with the rest of squad comprising Indian players with six U-21, six ?catchment? (local) players and nine to 14 top Indian players.