No Indian needs any introduction for Shahrukh Khan and KKR, with the former being global superstar and the latter: one of the powerful IPL franchises and two-time IPL Champions.
The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are a franchise cricket team representing the city of Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and her spouse Jay Mehta. The home of the Knight Riders is the iconic Eden Gardens stadium. The franchise, which has gained immense popularity due to its association with celebrity owners, qualified for playoffs are first time in 2011, three years since Indian Premier League inception.
Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla with her spouse Jay Mehta bought KKR under company Red Chillies Entertainment for USD 75.09 million approximately INR 2.98 Billions at that time(2008).
Brining Venky Mysore:
Mysore took over in end-2010 and transformed the company and the franchise totally, by making a series of strategic changes. After Mysore's entry, KKR strengthened the team in the 2011 auctions, took the hugely controversial decision of not bidding for the iconic Sourav Ganguly and started virtually on a totally clean slate.
KKR open to strategic investor, plans big merchandising push:
Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd, the Shah Rukh Khan-Jay Mehta owned company that owns the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Indian Premier League (IPL) team, is open to a strategic investor coming in. The company is also in advanced talks with a number of firms for merchandising deals to take Brand KKR pan-India.
"More than a private equity firm, it's a strategic investor which will make sense. We are not looking, but if someone comes along, we are absolutely open. To the extent that I have already prepared the shareholders about it."
KKR is set to wiped out all its accumulated losses in FY12 and break even in FY13. It ended FY12 with a Rs 14 crore net profit and revenues stand at around Rs 125 crore. "Fast forward to FY13 and KKR expected to wipe out the accumulated losses completely and turn profitable." Though there was no benchmark yet on valuation, experts reckoned the value would be 15 times revenues. Buoyed by the current performance rate, KKR hopes to clock a 25 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenues over the next three to five years.
Clarifying that there was no intention of going to market, CEO Venky Mysore said: "You would only go to market if there was need for funds or investors wanted to exit. Currently, none of that applies. But a strategic investor could be interesting who could take the business to another level. Existing shareholder stakes do become smaller, but if you can take the business to the next level then it makes sense."
Beyond cricket:
Stressing that his plan was to make the KKR franchise world class, he said the company was now working on a slew of activities to make it so. The new logo and brand identity was launched earlier this year, with new colours. A mother brand has now been created where the KKR acronym, logo and symbol would now be put to good use.
"If you see Ralph Lauren Polo, the logo of the horse is enough to identify the brand," he pointed out. On expanding beyond cricket, Mysore said KKR had been examining several options including hockey, football, car racing and expanding the cricket franchise into other geographies, but none of these fit into the firm's strategic imperatives.
There were proposals from teams from the Australian Big Bash T20 series, the Sri Lanka league and KKR even examined the Dempo Football Club possibilities, but those did not fit its strategy, Mysore said. "Dempo is more Shah Rukh's personal involvement. It's not KKR."
He said the major move post-IPL 5 and the KKR victory was now to expand the mother brand and create loyal followers countrywide. KKR therefore is now undertaking a massive social media campaign across platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. "The emotional connect will come when you say, win or lose I am a KKR fan."
On the anvil is a move to seriously expand the KKR brand to merchandise beyond apparel, since apparel is already part of deals with Freecultr and Reebok (which makes the official KKR jersey). The rest - from school bags to lunchboxes for kids, water bottles and co-branded soft drink cans with Coke - are all potential deals on the anvil.
"There are lots of interesting ideas. It's a creative platform. The challenge is to do the right things which fit into strategy," Mysore said.
Shah Rukh Khan's KKR only consistent IPL performer in making money, revenue grew 30% in FY15:
The star power of owner Shah Rukh Khan and consistent on-field performance in recent years have catapulted Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders into the profit zone even as most other franchises of the popular twenty20 tournament are yet to hit pay dirt. Kolkata Knight Riders, or KKR, posted the highest revenues among all IPL teams in 2014-15, the last year for which data was available, when it posted 30% growth in revenues and 54% jump in profits despite the fact that half of the tournament in 2014 was played in the UAE due to Lok Sabha elections.
No other IPL team has shown such consistent profits, not even Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians — the other two teams to have won the tournament more than once — as most teams have yet to open up new revenue sources such as merchandising and digital activities.
Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd, which runs KKR, had revenues of Rs 168.71crore in 2014-15, the year it won the tournament for a second time, up from Rs 128.81 crore in the previous year.
KKR Tops IPL 2017 Brand Value List:
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has been named the most valued team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), according to a report published by branded business valuation firm Brand Finance on IPL 2017.
The IPL team is currently valued at $58.6 million, which is 24 percent more than last year. The report further mentioned that, when compared with 2016, the value of IPL grew 9 percent in 2017 to $3.8 billion.
Stadium attendance increased 25 percent from 2016 even before the season was over, while last year’s television viewership numbers were beaten already by Match 43 this year. Social media engagement peaked too, with nearly 6 million tweets sent over the season’s first five weeks, added the report.
KKR is the fastest growing franchise in terms of brand value with a 24 percent year-on-year growth, while Royal Challengers Bangalore failed to perform both on the field as well as on the commercial front, finishing last on the points table and posted lowest year-on-year growth of 4 percent.
Owning Tribango Knight Riders and Capetown Knight Riders:
In 2015, Red Chillies Entertainment, the parent company Kolkata Knight Riders, purchased stake in the Red Steel.The Red Steel went on to win the 2015 tournament. After the season, the name was changed to Trinbago Knight Riders. This is the first time an IPL team invested in Twenty20 League outside India.
Since, their formation as Tribango Knight Riders, TKR never dropped out of Top-3 and least finish in table was 3rd spot both in 2016 and 2019 and they crowned as Champions in 2017, 2018 and more recently in 2020. In 2020 Tribango Knight Riders created history as they went on to win the tournament without any defeat and thus becoming first team ever to win a cricket league without single defeat.
With much success in two cricket franchises, KKR owners invested and brought Capetown franchise in South African Cricket League thus giving birth to Capetown Knight Riders. Though CTKR is yet to win any tournament, and while Cricket South Africa is planning for a major change in its cricket league, Knight Riders Pvt. Ltd is hoping for similar success in African continent as well.
In an interview, Venky Mysore also confirmed that UAE is planning for major cricket league and invited Knight Riders to invest in franchise. Mysore, further confirmed that they are looking at 4-5 franchises to mark Knight Riders base in UAE as well.
Establishing Base in UK and USA:
The inaugural season of The Hundred, originally slated to begin this July, has been pushed to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The tournament is currently wholly owned by ECB, but given the financial losses incurred due to the ongoing suspension of cricket, it could force them to change their stance, and consider private investment.
According to a report in Telegraph Sport, KKR chief executive Venky Mysore has expressed interest in potentially investing in the UK-based competition, iterating their plans of seeking opportunities to “invest in cricket globally.”
Red Chillies Entertainment, the parent company that owns KKR, also owns a stake in Trinbago Knight Riders, the Caribbean Premier League based out of Port of Spain.
“We are perhaps the only genuine global brand in cricket and our strategy has always been to look at opportunities to invest in cricket globally,” Mysore said.
“All leagues around the world understand the value that Knight Riders bring to any league and to that extent we will surely be keen to explore [investment opportunities]. I think leagues are also realising the value of having investors such as us who bring our brand, professional management, marketing ideas and huge fan base.”
The Knight Riders Group will play "a very broad role" in the USA-based Major League Cricket (MLC), the latest attempt to launch a franchise-led T20 tournament that is expected to kick off in 2022. That brings to three the number of leagues in which the Knight Riders Group have a team, after the IPL and CPL, and they will hold a "significant" stake in the tournament.
The investment in the MLC by the Knight Riders group, which is owned by Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla along with her husband Jay Mehta, will be strategic and see them playing the role of "consultant" to help USA Cricket run the six-team T20 league.
The league will be unlike a number of others at least in one way: the six (to start with) franchises will own a part of it. "In the IPL or the CPL, you own a franchise, and that's all you own and operate", whereas in the case of the MLC, "you have a stake in the league", Venky Mysore, CEO and managing director of the Knight Riders, said.
The Knight Riders Group, which owns Kolkata Knight Riders and the Trinbago Knight Riders, was invited by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), USA Cricket's partner in developing a professional T20 league in America. The result is what both ACE and Mysore have called "a long-term investment in American cricket".
"When they invited us, we said we want to take a deep dive into this, and not just have a short-term outlook," Mysore told ESPNcricinfo. "So they see us as a consultant in many ways, apart from being a big part of the league. They want us to play a very broad role, to help and assist them with all aspects of cricket in the US.
"USA Cricket are looking at a bigger national cricket set-up, academies, develop talent, and all that is complementary to what the T20 league will do as well. In addition, we will be working hard to build infrastructure there, six world-class stadiums in the next few years.
"It will be like a public-private partnership where you have conversations with the city council and they are used to doing it with other sports when it comes to, say, giving you land, or long-term financing arrangements.
"Eventually their ambition is to host international competitions, including, potentially, the World Cup. So this could be on the agenda. USA has a strong sports culture. It's also the No. 1 media market. Cricket is the second-most-watched sport in the world, so you combine it all, it's got all the ingredients of a very successful product."
Apart from plunging USD 15-20 Millions in euqity and getting marquee playersplayers to the US, the Knight Riders think tank will also leverage their expertise in MLC in designing the governance structure and the economic model.
Reports understand that Knight Riders are mulling to acquire the Los Angeles franchise of the MLC, keeping with the happy coincidences of the purple and gold also worn by the Los Angeles Lakers and also the added celebrity quotient around the Hollywood area to go with their verh own Bollywood heart throb Shahrukh Khan.
Only time will tell how many more titles can Kolkata Knight Riders and Tribango Knight Riders will win but with the business think tank in Shahrukh Khan as owner and Moneyball believer CEO Venky Mysore at the helm, Knight Riders are trying to become the Manchester United of Cricket.
Krish Charlie... ✒
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