The Tale of Golden Pigs!

U Must be thinkin what a weird title :) Go On and after u complete readin ud agree with my title :)

It was 7.30 AM and a fine mornin..... I was havin a nice cofee and watchin NDTV...... There comes the news...... The remainin two clubs in the Indian premier league were auctioned...... And my mouth fell open when i heard the sum one of the clubs went for.... A staggering 370 Million US dollars..... What in the name of God ?

I have been supporting Manchester United for just over a decade now..... Well they own a 75000 seater state of the art stadium and training ground and the players of the club are valued at around 350 million US dollars....Inspite of having a flurry of assests and generating profits to the tome of 49 million pounds a year United is valued at around 1 Billion Dollars !....... The brand image is such that the shirt sponsorhip deal they landed recetly with AON was worth 80 million pounds ! IPL franchisees can never even think of that kind of money........Man Us valuation is a reality only because of its 130 years of history and 330 million fan base with people going mad all over the world with its brand of football.......

So obviously i was thinkin how can a brand new cricket club in pune which is going to be a part of IPL which is still in its nascent stages be sold for 370 Million Dollars ? And what surprised me is this valuation is with out a stadium, No existing Brand Value, No Players.... Nothing at all....In addition to buying the club the owners have to invest  huge sums if they want to build a stadium and training facilities... players, commercials etc and the interest burden on the loan which they would take to buy the will be atleast 30 Million US dollars a year..... Well well have they even thought about braking even ? at this rate they would break even in some 70 years !

The Bottom line is Mr. Lalit modi is succesfully makin fools out of every one and sellin these undervalued franchisees to corporates showcasin them as golden pigs......... But the truth is they would never get a return on this huge investment made :)