Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) gets Bigger

It's almost impossible to overplay the significance and enduring popularity of CCL, Celebrity Cricket League with star cricketers, glam-loaded team supporters, and frenzied spectators. For season - II of CCL, viewers and fans will be spoilt for choice; star power of Bollywood with Salman Khan, Telugu star Venkatesh, Malayalam Superstar Mohanlal, Tamil star Surya, Kannada Hero Sudeep, and Bengali star Indraneil are going to mix glamour with cricketing instincts to fight for the Celebrity Cricket League's Coveted trophy. Celebrity Cricket League - Season I lived up to the promise of 100% entertainment with four teams playing to their full potential to packed stadiums and crowd cheering for their respective heroes.

CCL - Season II will see inclusion of two new teams, Kerala Strikers and the Bengal Tigers. Kerala Strikers is co-owned by Malayalam Star Mohanlal and ace director Priyadarshan & his wife, the team line up seems to be promising with Mohan Lal doubling up as captain of the team too. The Bengal Tigers is owned by Boney Kapoor and actress Sridevi with Bengali star Indraneil in the squad. To up brand equity of the team Boney Kapoor has roped in Sourav Ganguly as the Ambassador for the Bengal Tigers.

It is a mix of emotions and nostalgia for Vishnu Induri when he talks about his grandiose plans for this season of CCL. "CCL only had to move to the next level, organically to CCL - II, like any sports business model" and quickly adds "things have come to a full circle" with measured elegance and suave because if last season's incredible performance warmed the hearts of spectators, he says the entertainment quotient for this season will go a notch higher. The best part of CCL - Season I was the quality of cricket displayed by the stars. Unlike the usual exhibition matches, CCL season - had some serious cricketing with the average score of 7 matches being about 160 Runs.

While the promoters of the league boast of having blocked most of the sponsorship slots for CCL - Season II, it's definitely going to be an excellent opportunity for brands looking for high-impact advertising. Tirumal Reddy, Director of CCL says "There is going to 400% increase in advertiser revenue of Season - II when compared to Season - I". A dyed-in-wool media professional Tirumal Reddy believes in the philosophy of "Asli entertainment Abhi Baaki Hai"

CCL-II could also see Google's video streaming internet portal YouTube to stream live matches of 15 league matches, 2 semi-final and 1 final, a total of 18 matches.

The lineups of teams for season - II are Karnataka Bull Dozers, Chennai Rhinos, Telugu Warriors, Mumbai Heroes, Bengal Tigers and Kerala Strikers. The matches slated to be held at six different venues Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata and Sharjah. The matches will be played from the second week of January and will be played over the next four weekends.

After the CCL - Season I win, Chennai Rhinos being hauled by its old warhorses certainly is a challenge to all the teams. Teams like Karnataka Bull Dozers had roped in G R Vishwanath as team selector and Balwinder Singh Sandhu, the selector and coach for Mumbai Heroes. Bollywood star Salman Khan is unfazed by the team's performance in CCL - I, he has more aces up his sleeve for the CCL - II. Salman Khan says " I like the spirit of Mumbai Heroes, they lost the match in season-I but won the hearts of millions".

Shake that biscuit, baby! This fits well with the CCL glam afterhours party. Season-I saw the more maidens in the glam parties than bowled in the 22-yard pitch. The CCL glam nights were the most spoken about in season-I an open bar, great fashion, host of celebrities and pure unadulterated entertainment after cricketing. With the guest list comprising of Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Shriya Saran, Surya, Genelia d'souza and Venkatesh the list is exhaustive, ensure that its glitzy and party worth. Be prepared to experience the ultimate and the most glamorous party at the CCL glam nights.

The bugle has been sounded off; all the teams have started their training session well in advance finding time from their busy schedule without skipping the practice session. Teams are very serious as they want to compete with each other fully fit. With matches to telecast in six regional channel and one national channel, CCL - Season II will see groundswell of glamour and cricketing frenzy griping the nation. Ready for the next level of CCL yet?

Newborn Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) with $110 million valuation

 

It has become a fad to give great valuations for every new business and then discount it for every small reason. Even IPL was Valued at $ 4.13 Billion in 2010 and post Modi's exit, its valuation has dipped by 11% to $ 3.67 Billion in 2011.

Now the 6-Months-old Film Stars Cricket League, which calls itself - Celebrity Cricket League - is valued at $ 110 Million. CCL has just completed its Season 1 with 4 Teams and 7 Matches. The Star Presence is decent but the most surprising aspect is the quality of Cricket that these stars displayed.

All the matches have scores more than 150 runs in 20 overs and this definitely has brought in good excitement to the viewers. With the Season 1 just getting over a month and a half back, the promoters have already announced Season 2 with 2 additional teams. The only doubt that lingers in our mind is whether it is justified to valuate the newborn CCL (Celebrity Cricket League) at $ 110 Million?

IPL has sustained revenues $ 1.9 from Sony for broadcast rights over the next 10 years where as CCL hasn't sold its Broadcast rights to a particular channel till now. Though CCL has done decently well in Season 1 with TV viewership of 0.75 TVR compared to 3.75 TVR of IPL, it has long way to go. The key for CCL is Film Stars playing Cricket, With out big stars CCL can turn out to be one more ICL and if CCL can get at least 4 big stars in each team, it can reach at least half of IPL.

Coming to serious business, - Repucom - (the international brand analyst) has analysed the brand exposure of all the sponsors of CCL and has reported that the 100% Media Exposure of all brands together in CCL has delivered over $ 23.5 Million. Considering that exposure in the first season is with just 4 Teams and 7 Matches, the exposure is definitely bound to grow exponentially with 6 Teams and 18 Matches in Second season. If the media exposure is projected to be 2.0 times of what it was in season one compared to 18 matches over the 7 matches earlier, analysists assume that the Media Exposure would be $ 47 Million for Season 2. With that kind of Projected Media Exposure in Season 2, the discounted Revenue Projection for Season 2 is considered to be $ 10 Million.

IPL with annual revenues of $ 300 is valued at $ 3.6 Billion, which is 12 Multiple of its revenue. The valuation of CCL with $10 Million is justified at $ 110 Million, but only time can tell whether it's just a bubble or a new Gig in the making.