Amidst the ongoing bearish sentiments, ESPN Star Sports (ESS), which paid a steep $975 million for acquiring the upcoming T20 Champions League cricket tournament for 10 years, is targeting revenues of about Rs 200 crore from ground rights and on-air ad sales though media buyers say the target is ambitious in the current scenario. ESS is spending Rs 50 crore on pre-event marketing and plans to tie up with 250 cinema theatres for cross-marketing the event and Bollywood production houses for in-film tie-ups.

ESS MD RC Venkateish maintained the 15-match event would continue to be marketed at a premium despite the slowdown though media buyers have expressed concern over the steep rates being charged by the broadcaster. “No deals have been closed yet and unlike IPL, people are cautious of spending now,” head of a leading media buying agency said. However, Mr Venkateish said: “There’s no denying that the slowdown would impact smaller properties, but we believe cricket is insulated and remains a safe bet for advertisers.”

Mr Venkateish said the broadcaster was selling ground and on-air rights simultaneously, and that ESS was in talks with traditionally big spenders on cricket such as telecom and two-wheelers, among others, for sponsorship sales. But, he said, the possibility of selling category-exclusive deals to sponsors was not likely—something IPL rights holder Sony Max had done during the IPL’s telecast in April-May earlier this year.

ESS has floated on-air spot rates at Rs 3.25-3.5 lakh per 10 seconds. Though the opinion among media buyers is that the rates are too steep, Mr Venkateish said: “Our rates are reasonably adjusted to the downturn; in fact, as is the usual practice, rates would go up further as the tournament progresses.”

Some pre-event promos of the T20 Champions League will be introduced with BCCI’s other partners—Cricket South Africa and Cricket Australia. Champions League is being held for a short duration from December 3 to 10 in the first season.

In absolute terms, ESS’ acquisition of the T20 Champions League makes it the most expensive cricket tournament on a per game basis. While ESS paid $975 million for the event, the World Sports Group (WSG)-Set Max combine had paid $1.03 billion for 10-year IPL rights though for a higher number of matches. Sony Max had managed to reach its target of Rs 270-280 crore from the first IPL season from on-air revenues.