A rendezvous with Kochi

Mumbai: Ever since the winning bids for the two new IPL franchises were announced in Chennai, a curiosity about the Rendezvous Sports World Private Limited (RSPL) has spread across the cricketing world. The group, which made a winning bid of Rs 1553 crore for IPL's Kochi franchise, had a media interaction to explain the rationale behind choosing Kochi and the reason why such a mixed consortium came together to bid for a cricket team.

Talking about the choice of the football-oriented Kochi as the franchise’s home base, the CEO of the consortium Sanjay Gaikwad said, “It’s an exciting sports-loving audience that we would cater to and it gives us an ideal opportunity to bring cricket to a place where the sport is not saturated.’’

Elaborating on reasons behind choosing Kerala, he highlighted the role played by Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor. Gaikwad said, “He [Tharoor] explained that Kerala is one of the few states in the country where cricket is just beginning to grow. A Kerala team would also cater to fans in the Gulf where a lot of expatriate Malayalees with a good disposable income reside.’’

Gaikwad is the CEO of the consortium, which includes five principal investors: Anchor Earth, Film Waves, Parinee Developers, Elite and Cholayil Group and Anand Shyam Real Estate.

Gaikwad stated that the consortium came together six months ago when some of the investors, known to each other, discussed the possibility of owning an IPL team.

Considering the amount they paid for the franchise, USD 333.33 million, the investors would be looking to break even pretty quickly. Keshav, though, is pragmatic. “We are here for the long term and don’t expect to make profits in the first year,’’ he said resolutely.

About their future plans, he said that the group, which already runs a cricket academy in Solapur, planned to construct a cricket stadium. But their immediate focus is on forming a team strong enough to win the crown in IPL 2011.

There are some sceptics who wonder if the new teams can form a strong enough squad with the eight current franchises wanting to hold on to their best players. Keshav P T of Filmwaves, though, isn’t worried. “We are not early starters. We are coming in when IPL has already established itself as a huge brand. That is the premium we pay for it. We don’t expect to get the best players in the first year. But in the first two editions, we have seen a lot of unknown players excel. It’s not necessarily the established players who have done well,’’ he stated.

"We have no specific catchment areas. We will go for players who would not be retained. As for locals, we are looking for players from Kerala as we want to promote the sport there,’" Keshav added.

The Rendezvous Group is aware of the marketing and branding value that icon players bring to the franchise. “It’s important to have an icon player. It is eventually around him that you will market your team. But if you look at the teams, they are using a bunch of players unless you are talking about someone like [Sachin] Tendulkar, who is a team by himself," Keshav said.