Sad Day for CSK Fans

It is early hours of the day before another finals for CSK. Rather than waiting with glee for the match, my eyes have tears in them. IPL's most successful team faces its first & IPL's biggest controversy. A team principal (let us not kid ourself by believing that Gurunath Meiyappan was just an honorary member of the management team) has been arrested (Cricinfo). He was the public face of India Cements' promoters in Chennai Super Kings Team & his arrest is a major blow for the franchise. Though the early reports indicate that he might be arrested for betting rather than fixing the matches, it is tough to separate both the crimes today. 

And the team management owes its fans to take the following actions

• Guilty should be punished. Projecting this as vendetta politics, etc. is foolishness. 
• Be Transparent. Suddenly waking up and saying that Meiyappan was not Team Principal is foolishness
• Don't be silent. CSK player's active twitter accounts have all gone silent today. Speak up. Nobody is yet pointing any fingers at them. 
• Promise us there won't be any more wrong-doings
• N. Srinivasan should resign from BCCI President role - without any delay. And if I am on the board of directors of India Cements, I should be asking on whether Srinivasan should continue as its MD

And what we the CSK Fans promise

• We won't run away because of this controversy. But we do expect better integrity from the team
• We do understand Meiyappan is not the owner of the team. Do understand that equating Meiyappan to CSK is like equating Sreesanth to entire Rajasthan Royals Team.
• We will continue to treat CSK management and CSK Players as two different groups. And would continue to support CSK Players on the field. 

But I am sure CSK brand will take a severe beating. Expect a few sponsors to walk away from the brand next year. Whatever said & done, my love & affection for CSK would never be innocent again. :(

CSK makes 138 Crores of Revenues for India Cements

Financial Success Crucial For Any Sports Club

One of the key reasons for the long-term success of large football clubs like Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, etc. is their financial success. None can disagree today that the long-term success of a sports club on the field is dependent on their profitability & financial success - off the field. That is why it is crucial for Chennai Super Kings to be the most financially successful club in IPL. 

CSK Makes Record Revenues

And the recent reports of Chennai Super Kings shared during the quarterly reports of India Cements has a lot of 'good news' for CSK Fans. With a revenue of Rs. 138 crore in April - Sept 2010 and highest EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Deductions and Amortisation) i.e. Profits are positive news to us. 

Professional Management

These results demonstrate the club is professionally managed - both on and off the field. Only hope that the team will continue to invest its profit in the players & future CSK stars rather than ploughing the money  back to the parent company. 

Opening Ceremony of IPL - Season 4

Srinivasan shows his might and has ensured that the opening ceremony of IPL - Season 4 would be happening at Chennai. Since Chennai Super Kings are the current IPL Champions, IPL - Season 4 finals would also be happening at Chennai. Lucky that Chennai gets to see both the opening and closing ceremonies of next IPL. 

My Wishlist from Chennai Super Kings Management

Until now, I have been happy with the way N. Srinivasan & Co have run Chennai Super Kings Team. They have taken various intelligent decisions [like bidding for Dhoni & Freddie] and done a lot of things smartly. As a testament to that, Chennai Super Kings today boasts a huge number of die-hard fans. [And I am sure it has the highest number of fans for any IPL franchise] But still there are a few things in a fan's wish list which the management team should do. Listing down my top three wishlist for Chennai Super Kings management team:

1. Increased Interaction with Fans: Though there has been a lot of lip-service for Chennai Super Kings fans, the management team has not done anything concrete or anything exclusive until now. [Only thing they have done is asking VB to blog on the website. Thanks to the blog, today we know the thinking behind various things going in the club]. They can kick-start the interaction with the fans by helping in creating a Chennai Super Kings Supporters Association that acts as an intermediate between the fans and the management.
2. A Responsibile Citizen: As a team that carries "Chennai" on its name, Chennai Super Kings would be expected to contribute actively to various social activities in Chennai and be a responsible member of the society. A simple step like donating a 1% of the profit to Social activities would go a long way in becoming a part of Chennai itself
3. Farm System: In the intial few seasons with a limit on spending on the players, the money power of the few of the team owners might not make any difference. But I am sure, the depth of the pockets would matter with the increasing maturity of IPL. So the only way for the team to compete with Ambanis & Mallyas, would be by building a farm system that delivers talent to the team, year-after-year. Hope Chennai Super Kings recognizes this and creates a proper system for this.

What is there in your wishlist from CSK management?. Write them in the comments section or Join Exclusive Chennai Super Kings Fan Social Network + Community Today and discuss with other passionate fans of Chennai Super Kings.

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Chennai Super Kings Website getting Bigger & Better

Though the shifting of venues may result in a smaller scale IPL. Rakesh Singh, Marketing Head of India Cements Ltd. has promised us that Chennai Super Kings Website would get better and bigger. Citing te several million page views last year, he has promised a lot more features this time around.

According to him, the blog is just the first of these initiatives. He has promised that the online store with special merchandise (T-Shirts, Caps, Wrist Bands), a WAP Site and mobile store for ring tones, themes, anthems, wallpapers, news alerts and unique team-centric content from a dedicated editorial staff would be available.

Also after a long time, Chennai Super Kings Online Merchandise Store is finally open. You can buy Chennai Super Kings T-Shirt, Cap and Wrist Band @ the store. [I just bought the blue CSK T-Shirt]

News Source: exchange4media

Freddie Confident of IPL Participation

With the recent injuries to Flintoff in the West Indies Series, People started questioning the availability of Freddie for this IPL Season. Even the so-called cricket experts advised Flintoff to stay away from Indian Premier League and keep himself fresh for Ashes Series.

Thankfully, Flintoff scotched those rumors today by coming out in the public and confirmed his IPL Participation. "I don't think it will be touch and go," he said. "The IPL's still a while away so for all intents and purposes I'll be fit for that. I'm intending to go but it's not really at the forefront of my thinking.”

Flintoff! Just don’t forget that you owe your IPL Participation to Chennai SuperKings Fans. We all are awaiting your arrival and keeping our fingers crossed regarding your injury. Our Well Wishes to become Fit Soon!

In another News, India Cements has been sewing more sponsorship and merchandise deals (J&J has joined the sponsorship list) and has stated its intent that this time around all its branding and promotion exercise will involve the fans. Way to Go! India Cements Marketing Team! We all love you!

Related News

• Flintoff Injury and Pepsi & Wrigley Sponsorship Deal

BCCI on our side

Cricinfo reports that BCCI has requested ECB to postpone the start of India-England Test series by a day. What it means is that Dhoni will play the finals if Chennai Super Kings makes the cut.

Though BCCI has suggested logical difficulties (of having a test match immediately after an important tournament) as one of the reasons, don't have any doubt on the person who is pulling the strings on this issue. I have to admit that it is great to have a team owner who doubles up as the secretary of all powerful BCCI. Now my sincere hope is that N. Srinivasan becomes the next BCCI President. :-) [So that we get much more favours like this]

Update: The BCCI and ECB have confirmed that the first Test between England and India in Ahmedabad will get underway as scheduled on December 11, despite a request from the Indian board to delay the start by a day to avoid a potential clash of dates with the final of the inaugural Champions League in Chennai. Hmmm... Expect Dhoni to miss the finals if Chennai Super Kings qualifies for the match... :)

Ready to buy tickets???

The season tickets for the Indian Premier League cricket matches at M A Chidambaram Stadium will go on sale from Friday, April 11 at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) counters. Subsequently, season tickets will be made available at various distribution points across Chennai. The ticket prices for the Season and Daily tickets for different stands are given below:

News Source: Chennai Super Kings Official Website

A Simple Calculation

Assuming that 20% of the seats are allotted to season ticket holders and M A Chidambaram Stadiums has a houseful crowd for all the seven matches, India Cements Ltd would make more than 25 crore rupees from the ticket revenues itself.

 

But the question is

Will the fans turn out in huge numbers for a 3 hour cricket match with such exorbitant ticket prices?

Chennai Super Kings FanZone is Up

When I checked out CSK official website today, I was surprised to find out the 'Fan Zone' to be up and working. So I quickly registered myself on the website so that I could become the first member to comment on the forum[:)]. But Alas, I was only shocked and disappointed on seeing the Fan Zone. It does not provide any forum for fans to voice out their opinions. As of now, Chennai Super Kings Fan Zone has a few wall papers to download. But still, you could register yourself at CSK - Fan Zone

Personal Requests to Coromandel Infotech India Ltd

• Quickly Provide a forum in the fan zone
• Quickly provide a RSS feed in the main website

Hope my requests don't fall in deaf ears.

Chennai Super Kings Website Rocks!!!

On seeing Chennai Super Kings Official Website for the first time, I thought that though the Design was not great, it should suffice. But on seeing the other IPL teams' websites, I am satisfied that Chennai Super Kings have done a wonderful job with their website and it is surely the best of the lot. Even Aditya Ramgopal, who did a survey on all the websites, agrees with this opinion.

 

Simplicity

One thing that Google has shown to the rest of the world wide web is that Simple and Neat design always rocks. This is much more important for Indian websites since most of us are still using dial-up connections and even our Broad Band is ultra-slow. But Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Dare Devils forgot this and made their websites loaded with flash and videos that suck up the bandwidth. Just by its simplicity, Chennai Super Kings scores over Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders

 

Design

Creativity lies in coming with simple, elegant and attractive designs that does not suck up bandwidth. Though, Rajastan Royals have come up with an elegant design, the website looks so professional that most of its fans would mistake the website for a corporate website rather than the website of a sports club. The web layouts and colour combinations of websites of  Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab does not seem right. But the worst of the lot is the website designed for Bangalore Royal Challengers. Right from the prominence given to Vijay Mallaya in the website to the red-yellow colour combination makes you doubt whether this is the company that comes up with Kingfisher Calendar.

Operational

But the downside for Chennai Super Kings' website is that it is still not fully operational. Hopefully, all the links and sections of  CSK website would start working soon.

P.S: Mumbai Indians still does not have an official website.

Chennai Super Kings Officially Launched

Sorry for not updating immediately about the official launch of Chennai Super Kings. But all the surprising news in Chennai Super Kings official launching ceremony - 4 new players and Aircel as the main sponsor were already revealed in this blog. Still there were a few things that made me happy.

Dhoni Serious about Chennai Super Kings

With Dhoni's multiple responsibilities as one day captain, Batsman and wicketkeeper, I was a bit worried on how serious Dhoni will be about Chennai Super Kings in Indian Premier League Cricket. These doubts were also aided by the fact that Dhoni has never spoken in public about Chennai Super Kings.

So V.B. Chandrasekhar's revelation that,

"Dhoni was very serious and had already thought out the team combination and how to go about playing in the tournament. We are looking at playing serious cricket and he seemed the perfect man for it"

was surely a great relief for me. Also Chennai Management team and Dhoni putting their relationship on strong footing was also a pleasant news. [India Times reveals that CSK management and Dhoni had at least one 'excellent' meeting]

Photos

The glittering ceremony also provided a number of opportunities for great photos. You can check out the photos here.

India Cements Ltd's Kollywood Connections

When India Cements Ltd announced that Vijay and Nayanthara are going to be the star ambassadors for Chennai Super Kings, I was hugely surprised by the swiftness, with which India Cements Limited was able to sign two of Kollywood's hottest stars. While some fans talked about huge sums of money exchanging hands, it was a mystery to me. So I did a little big of digging(googling).

Srinivasan's Connection with Vijay and Nayantara:

It came as a surprise to me that N. Srinivasan's daughter Rupa Gurunath is married to Gurunath Meiyappan of AVM family, one of the oldest and leading film and TV serial production houses in the south[Source: ET]. Once I found this connection, everything started falling into place. Viay's next film (under AVM banner) is being produced by AVM Balasubramanian and Gurunath Meiyappan[Source: Hindu]. AVM Balasubramanian, younger brother of AVM Saravanan, is the father of Gurunath Meiyappan. I don't think I have to reveal the final piece of the puzzle - Heroine of Vijay's future film under AVM banner. None other than Nayanthara[Source: oneindia]. The final nail in my research is the confession by Nayanthara in her sify interview that Gurunath Meiyappan contacted her regarding Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings is the first endorsement done by Nayanthara and Vijay too is known for his rare endorsements. So it can be safely assumed that it was the association with cricket and India Cements Ltd's connection that resulted in the signing rather the huge sums of money. Thanks to Gurunath Meiyappan's connections, Chennai Super Kings is able to employ various Kollywood stars and artists for Chennai Super Kings.

Gurunath Meiyappan on the left

India Cements Ltd

I first heard about 'India Cements Ltd' when they won the ownership of Chennai franchise of Indian Premier League. Since most of the fans would not know much about the owner of Chennai Super Kings, i took the responsibility to do some digging about India Cements Ltd(ICL).

Company Highlights

• India Cements Ltd was established in 1946 and the first plant was setup at Sankarnagar in Tamil Nadu in 1949
• Company is the largest producer of cement in South India
• Brands Owned by the company - Sankar Super Power, Coromandel Super Power and Raasi Super Power

The company is headed by Mr.N.Srinivasan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, the son of late Shri T.S.Narayanaswami, Founder of The India Cements Ltd.

Cricket Connections

1. Management

Company's ties with Cricket starts from its Managing Director, Shri N.Srinivasan, who is an ardent Cricket lover. He is also the President of The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and the Chairman - Finance Committee of the Board Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

2. Chennai

India Cement was the first company to introduce corporate involvement in cricket, right back in 1960. They have been running teams from then on. In fact, India Cement Ltd. have got 12 teams in the Chennai league. They have won a huge number of tournaments in these years - 15.37 Bucchi Babus, Ireland Trophies,etc .

3. Players

A Little known fact is that Rahul Dravid has been an employee of India Cement for the last 14 years. Dravid became an employee of ICL, even before he became a Ranji trophy player. Even now, he plays for ICL's leagues. The others who have played for the company include Sehwag, L. Sivaramkrishnan, etc.. All the top players have played for India Cements Ltd. at some time or the other.

Thanks to these cricket ties, India Cement Ltd has put up a great team in place. Now it is for the players to deliver.

Next Post: To continue this discussion further, the next post would be on the topic 'Chennai Super Kings - Zero Cost Marketing or New Business Venture' for India Cement Ltd.

A Firm 'No' to Private Equity

When Financial Express reported India Cements Limited's Plans to list Chennai Super Kings in the next three years, one of my interpretation was that India Cements Limited(ICL) is sending signals to Private Equity Investors for diluting their stake. So I was naturally surprised when I read about India Cements Limited's unwillingness to dilute their equity stake(in Times of India article).

Most of the management gurus teach that the natural path of progression for any start-up is to raise funds from Private Equity and then approach the public market(Stock Market).

4 reasons why ICL is not following the regular text book model

• Confidence of ICL on the success of the business model of Chennai Super Kings
• Huge Reserves of ICL, thanks to buoyant Indian economy
• Generally Private Equity players, in addition to capital, also bring management expertise to any start-up. But I don't think any of the Indian Private Equity Players can do the same for Chennai Super Kings
• ICL looking at Chennai Super Kings as a marketing opportunity rather than as a new business venture.

What Srinivasan Says

N Srinivasan, Vice Chairman and MD, Chennai Super Kings in his interview to Times of India says,

"A few private equity investors met me. They were interested in knowing if I would be willing to dilute my stake in the team's equity. I have told them that we are not in favour of diluting to anybody for the moment."

Unwillingness to dilute their stake clearly shows the confidence that India Cements Limited have on the success of the business model. As Srinivasan clearly explains,

"The valuation of Manchester United is £9 billion. The sheer number of people viewing cricket in India is much more than soccer viewers there. Assuming I manage to get 5% of that, you will know what I mean if you do your math. It is of course important that the tournament should take off in its first episode, which I am sure it will."

Ready for Chennai Super Kings IPO???

Financial Express reports that India Cements Limited(ICL) is planning to list Chennai Super Kings in the next two years. ICL's Plan is based on the belief and the expectation that the franchise will grow substantially in the years to come and would become a major league on the lines of European and US leagues.

N. Srinivasan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements Limited said in the interview,

“Our aim is to make the league as one of the leading league in India on the lines of Europe and the US such as United Manchester over a period of time. We are excited over the response from the public for our franchisee and the company received over 26,000 suggestions to name the franchisee,”

“Ultimately our franchisee will be made to grow substantially in terms of volume and value and it will bring a strong brand equity to the parent company” [and blah! blah! blah!... :)]

He also added the investment in Chennai Super Kings is a revenue-positive proposal.

Though some people would look at an IPO as an ideal opportunity for India Cements Limited to milk the cow, I personally would like to have an IPO as soon as possible. My reasons for that:

• Fans, in addition to being supporters of the franchise, would get the opportunity to own the club.
• If the Chennai Super Kings lists itself in the next 3 or 4 years, most probably it would be the first one to do so. As an result, the stock markets would undervalue the firm because of the risk and the untested business model. There lies my chance to make a few bucks.
• The franchises would start making profits only in the years to come. So India Cements Limited will be facing capital crunch for investment(working capital) sooner or later.
• At some point in the future, the franchises would like to have their own cricket ground, training facilities, etc. All of these are capital-intensive investments. What better place than Stock markets to raise this money?

Hope Chennai Super Kings comes out with an IPO sooner than latter.