Click to play videoKolkata: We are quite used to the battle for television rights in cricket. But in Kolkata, they care about football more than the Gentleman's Game.
Mohun Bagan and East Bengal might not be doing too well in national football these days, but the popularity of the sport hasn't gone down in Kolkata.
That's evident from the big sums regional news channels from this part of the country are staking on the sport. With a bid of Rs 12.41 crore, Bengali news channel Star Ananda has bagged the telecast rights for Kolkata's Premier Division Football League for four years till 2011.
It's paying over Rs 3.10 crore and for 40 matches a year - clearly the highest any television channel has ever bid for a football league in India.
"Domestic cricket has got no popularity, whereas domestic football has got immense popularity, especially in Bengal, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Maharashtra. So, I feel that Star Ananda has also done their calculations. They have done their mathematics," says Subrata Dutta, the vice-president of the All India Football Federation.
The price is steep compared with what ESPN-STAR agreed to pay last year for another football tournament in Kolkata - Rs 90 lakh a year for three years till 2008. But popularity of cricket has since declined.
With corporate sponsors now willing to shell out more for airing football matches, television channels, too, have become far more aggressive. Star Ananda, which outbid a Zee-promoted Bengali news channel, estimates production to cost around Rs 1 crore a year.
And despite spending over Rs 4 crore on the property, it is confident of breaking even in the first year itself.
If clubs like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are haggling with sponsors like the UB Group for more money, you know why they demand more these days. As sponsors withdraw from cricket, football's raking in the moolah.
(With inputs from Sukarno Sen in Kolkata)
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