STAR bets big on hockey; to invest Rs 100 crore on HIL 2014

STAR Sports is all set to spend about Rs 100 crore in production and marketing of the second edition of Hockey India League (HIL), a property launched in 2013. The network has partnered a specialised sports agency, International Management Group (IMG), to produce the game. The upcoming season will have a lot of graphics, with a much better production quality.

Israel-based specialised sports agency Prometheus has been entrusted with the responsibility of developing cutting edge graphics suitable for hockey broadcast. There will be 20 cameras capturing the matches, which will be a first time event for a hockey match, against the five-camera setup which was being used about 20 years ago.

Graphics will be seen during the live matches. The network claims that this will not be distracting as the graphics will come at appropriate moments, such as the breaks during change of players or before penalty strokes.

Nitin Kukreja, head of sports business at STAR India suggests that it will take at least three years to break even. While he remained tight-lipped about the financials, it is learnt that the revenues are suspected to be substantially more than last year, by 25-30 per cent. The production cost has, however, increased by almost 60-70 per cent. Apparently, the network was testing waters with the game in the first edition of the league.

Kukreja further adds, "We have seen that passion for hockey exists. We have seen it last year and through international matches. It has a lot of potential. We are working towards a multi-sport culture. Currently, in the entire ecosystem, I think cricket contributes about 70 per cent of the total revenues in the space. Hockey will gear up soon."

The network has signed on-air associate sponsorship deals with Micromax, Denver Deo and Dr Ortho for the second edition of the league, in addition to the spot buyers for different matches. Hero is the title sponsor for the on-ground event, which is named Hero Hockey India League, along with Yes Bank and Airtel, amongst others, as associate on-ground sponsors.

The league will be promoted across the STAR India network and a few major campaigns will run across the six cities where the teams come from, including Delhi (Delhi Wave Riders), Mumbai (Mumbai Magicians), Jalandhar (Punjab Warriors), Ranchi (Ranchi Rhinos), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh Wizards) and Bhubaneswar (Kalinga Lancers).

The network recently acquired the broadcast rights from International Hockey Federation (FIH) for eight years, giving it access to one international hockey event every year. This also includes Men's Hockey World Cup 2018.

The network plans to invest Rs 1500 crore on the game over the next eight years.

Considering that India is a cricket-crazy country, it will take a long time to develop any game and such a huge investment has its own set of risks. Kukreja agrees, "We are putting money where our mouth is. We believe hockey has potential for growth but needs certain key ingredients to come together. We are here for a long term. There are certain challenges that we need to tackle and we are quite aware of those."

One of the major challenges that the network faces is the lack of celebrity players and performance of the country on the international platform. Compare the same to the Indian Premier League - the tournament reached heights partly because the Indian cricket team performed spectacularly in the World Cup and other international championships.

STAR Sports has prepared pre and post shows of the league. The studio team in English will be led by former BBC presenter Michael Absalom. In Hindi, STAR Sports has roped in Vidya Malvade (of Chak De India fame) as the lead anchor.

Viren Rasquinha, former India Hockey Captain, adds, "It is important that we create role models and heroes that are household names in hockey, much like some of our celebrated cricketers, so that hockey becomes aspirational and people take to the game. A lot has changed in Indian hockey in the last two years post the introduction of HIL. A lot of money has come in, which is welcome news."

Former Pakistan Hockey Captain Tahir Zaman adds, "Both Pakistan and India have been powerhouses in the sport, but while some of the other games like cricket made rapid strides, hockey got left behind. A large part of that was due to the fact that one could not make a living out of the sport in the past and we played the game purely for the love of the game."

It must be noted that the Pakistani players are not a part of the tournament.