Everything is possible in cricket; everything is possible with Indian Premier League too. Or where else you can find a team that plays the worst game but makes the maximum moolah! As goes the report of Brand Finance, UK based brand valuation consultancy, Shah Rukh’s Kolkata Knight Riders currently have a brand value as big as 42.1 million dollars. As a matter of fact, the figure happens to be the highest among the eight franchises. Sachin headed and Ambani owned Mumbai team makes a close second though at 41.6 million dollars.

While KKR is the worst performer, Mumbai Indians too are definitely not among the best with reference to the point table. Still, these two teams managed to sit on the summit of immense brand value.

And most ironically, while it comes to pack brand value, the defending champions are nowhere near the team that has been getting the thrash from the rest of the IPL teams. Last years’ winner, Rajasthan Royal’s brand value has been estimated at 39.5 million dollars, while it is 39.4 million dollars and 39.2 million dollars respectively for this season’s two most happening IPL teams- Chennai Super Kings at and Delhi Dare Devils.

Then there are these two teams - Kings IX Punjab and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers, whose scores at branding point table has no link to their scores at IPL point table. Hyderabad Deccan Chargers are definitely a strong contender for this year’s IPL title and the Punjab team too maintained an above average profile. Yet on the valuation scale, Kings IX Punjab stands at 36.3 million dollars and Hyderabad Deccan Chargers at 34.8 The same is more or less applicable for the team of Royal Challengers Bangalore, whose brand value has been estimated at 37.4 million dollars,

So how come the most awful side manages to becomes the priciest one? May be Unni Krishnan from Brand Finance can offer an explanation. “Performance is not the only variable. There are variables like sponsorship deal, licensing and merchandising deal, presence of star players”.

But it is only partially true. While it is true that performance is not the only variable, it is definitely one of the most important. Last year, the Rajasthan teams were underdogs and they hardly have any visibility before they started making the audience sit back and take notice with their stunning performances. After lifting the trophy, they have gained a cool 59 percent hike in their brand value, proving that performance does matter in acquiring brand value.

Just in its second year and IPL is a 2 billion dollars enterprise. It is one of the fastest growing enterprises too. With a stake as huge as this, each team has its own way to making money out of it. But so far as Knight Rider is concerned, it is not the team, but it’s the Shah Rukh and Shah Rukh alone, who is the only value-adding factor for the team. This is high time; his huge crew of team managers learns something from their owner.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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