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It’s common to see visuals of nervous IPL owners, business tycoons or Bollywood stars, feature during the telecast of the final. For the players, after the celebration on the podium, medals around the neck and joyous moments with the trophy comes the embrace from the owner. Once the final is won, the owners too get a few moments on TV to share their happiness.
The scenes were different in Ahmedabad on Sunday night. Skipper Hardik Pandya, having scripted a personal turnaround in the triumph of debutants Gujarat Titans, was the focus of all with his teammates, holding the IPL trophy.
GT belongs to Erilia Company Pte Ltd (CVC Capital Partners), one of Europe’s largest private equity firms, which bought the Ahmedabad franchise for ₹5,625 crore last year. Nick Clarry, Managing Partner at CVC who oversees its sports, media and entertainment business, was at the final.
“On the cricketing front, a free hand was given to (director of cricket operations) Vikram Solanki, (coach) Ashish Nehra, (mentor) Gary Kirsten and others. When it comes to marketing, brand building, commercials, I was given the authority to make full-fledged decisions. We would keep the owners informed,” said Col Arvinder Singh, CEO, Gujarat Titans.
CVC Capital has its priorities clear. Its focus is not to create brand awareness for its primary business. Instead, it invested because it saw value in the property. The Luxembourg-based investment firm’s sports portfolio includes major stakes in the Spanish La Liga, Rugby Six-nations and International Volleyball Federation. They had held stakes in Formula One and MotoGP before selling them for profit.
Matthew Wheeler, who runs a sports advisory firm and worked with CVC during their IPL bid, says they CVC doesn’t intend to be in cricket for perpetuity. “They have invested in IPL to grow and develop the team, but ultimately they will pass it on to another owner,” he said before the season. “But they do have a medium to long-term view—a 10-12-year investment horizon.”
“The purpose of a sports team is to win matches. The reason Manchester United, Real Madrid, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are successful is because they win more than the others. That’s the best marketing you can do to build a brand,” Wheeler had said.
Titans have done well to carve a strong local identity. “We did not have a name when the mega auction took place. From that moment on, the aim was to get the Gujarati community everywhere to support their team and align with us from an engagement perspective,” Singh said.
GT won the final at home in front of a crowd of 1,04,859 at the Narendra Modi Stadium with Gujarati boy Pandya (he plays for Baroda in Ranji Trophy) leading from the front. A lot of the team’s social media messaging was done in Gujarati. ‘Aava de’ (bring it on) was used as a hash tag.
The team celebrated victory with an open bus ride on the Sabarmati riverfront on Monday. “It matters that we have had such amazing crowd support for a team playing in its first year. We can only grow,” Singh said.
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