Organisers announce 2 new teams; Tollywood star Nagarjuna bags Hyderabad franchise
The much talked about i1 Super Series has announced that Telugu superstar Akkineni Nagarjuna is coming on board, but it may soon be losing the Bollywood’s Badshah. Sources close to Shah Rukh Khan and within the Kolkata Knight Riders have indicated a lack of interest in the motorsports league, scheduled to kick start next January.
Team SRK is believed to have done its research and found the business model of the league, supposedly built on the lines of the successful Indian Premier League (IPL), not attractive enough.
Besides, they are believed to have reservations over the car to be used in the event. “The goal is to enhance the brand Kolkata Knight Riders and not dilute it,” said an insider not willing to be named.
Shah Rukh Khan initially gave the promoters, Machdar Motorsports, an expression of interest in the franchise-based league for the Mumbai team but subsequently found that the business model was not so enticing.
As per the model, the franchise has to pay the promoters $5 million but there will be no guaranteed returns in the first year. The promoters do not have a deal with a broadcaster and in the absence of such a deal, the franchises have not been promised any immediate revenue.
This is unlike the IPL in which the franchises were assured of a revenue share from the BCCI’s broadcasting deal from the very beginning. “The broadcast deal was insurance in the IPL. Here there is no such guarantee,” a source said. For the first year, Ten Sports will broadcast the races to be held in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, New Delhi, Sepang in Kuala Lumpur and Bahrain. The promoters plan to sign a formal broadcast deal before the second year with Ten Sports getting the first right of refusal.
When contacted, Machdar Motorsports insisted that Shah Rukh Khan is on board. “We are sure SRK is very much part of the races,” a spokesperson for the promoters told this paper. “He was part of our entourage during the Formula One race in New Delhi.” The spokesperson also justified the absence of a broadcasting deal saying it would be signed next year after finding out the real value of the league.
The other aspect about the league is the model of the car to be used. Khan’s franchise is believed to have gathered a lot of opinions about the model and has concluded that it may not produce the noise that an F1 car does, nor is its speed that exciting. Finally, the franchise is not sure if it can galvanise fans in Mumbai if the races are held in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Sepang.
Meanwhile, Machdar have announced that the league has acquired two new teams from Bangalore and Hyderabad. According to a release, Nagarjuna has bought the Hyderabad team and the Bangalore team has been bought by Arjun Baljee, founder of the Peppermint Hotels and part of the family-run Royal Orchid chain of luxury hotels, along with Rudra Dalmia, a partner in RD Capital, an investment advisory and consulting firm in Delhi. Management guru Arindam Chaudhuri has already bought the Delhi franchise.
The i1 Super Series will have nine teams representing nine cities from across the country with each team having a driver of Indian origin and an international driver per car.
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