Cricket146;s Club Class

Ferozeshah Kotla gets a swanky club house, 43 corporate boxes, a 300-seater restaurant and much more. And all this without spending a single government paisa. AJAY S SHANKAR reports from Ground Zero

ON a charged February afternoon seven years ago, as the monstrous Ferozeshah Kotla club house shivered to the thunder that greeted every wicket of Anil Kumble8217;s perfect 10, a Pakistani cricket writer at the edge of the overflowing media tier piped up, 8216;8216;Hope we don8217;t become history too.8217;8217;

That, probably, was the last nail in the coffin that watching cricket at the Kotla had become, 66 years after the Willingdon Pavilion flagged this Delhi ground on the world map. Viewing experience: zero. Vision: minus zero.

Today, a simple, slightly audacious and even revolutionary, blueprint is changing all that. A new stadium, virtually, funded completely by private players. And a corporate sponsorship model that Delhi8217;s 2010 Commonwealth Games planners may do well to borrow.

Says Arun Jaitley, president, Delhi 038; District Cricket Association DDCA: 8216;8216;The aim is to have the largest, most modern, privately built stadium.8217;8217; And the sponsorship concept was worked out in the cricket season of 2003: generate money for the revamp by selling 8216;8216;5-star8217;8217; space to top corporates.

Three years on, Rs 35-40 crore have come in from 43 corporate boxes, branding and signages on stands see box. 8216;8216;We need somewhere between Rs 50-60 crore for the reconstruction, which we hope to complete by July. We will make up the rest of the money from BCCI subsidies, TV rights and other revenue,8217;8217; says Jaitley.

IN fact, the results are already visible at the ground, or taking shape on steel girders. There8217;s a brand new club house, with 37 corporate boxes, a 300-seater restaurant and the works: air-conditioning, TVs, refrigerators. There are 16 more boxes coming up on four tiers at the other end, opposite the old pavilion. And there are two 8216;8216;stepped hills8217;8217; where spectators will be seated on sofas. All paid for by corporate majors like Tatas, ITC, TVS and PSU giant ONGC.

There are also promises of much more: swimming pool, gymnasium, indoor practice facilities and even a garden. According to Jaitley, 8216;8216;The stadium, when complete, will accommodate 50,000 people, each on numbered seats.8217;8217;

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Says Chetan Chauhan, former Test opener and DDCA vice-president: 8216;8216;The beautiful part is we haven8217;t borrowed from any government agency or financial institutions. There8217;s no liability.8217;8217;

But of course, selling space at the Kotla8212;notorious for the DDCA8217;s internal politics8212;was far from easy. Says Lokesh Sharma, Managing Director, 21st Century Media, which handled the marketing part: 8216;8216;We met people from 600-700 companies. At first, we had nothing to show except presentations. But we knew it was a matter of time, like any company starting a new project.8217;8217;

It was the big names that finally clinched it. 8216;8216;That took about 4-5 months of persuasion. It involved serious money. There were specific benefits we had to create,8217;8217; adds Sharma.

Says a spokesperson from TVS, which has its name on the new club house: 8216;8216;The sponsorship of a box in Ferozeshah Kotla is an extension of our association with the game. We are a leading mobile manufacturer in the country and 99 per cent of our consumers are male. Further 80 per cent of cricket lovers are also male and hence it makes sense for us8230;8217;8217;

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For Bharti Telecom, which has taken up one of the larger corporate boxes, 8216;8216;aligning with the game is a healthy way of making our presence felt in the minds of the consumers.8217;8217;

For Chauhan, who essentially handled implementation on the ground, it was a test that he had never come up against. 8216;8216;We first thought of an alternative site. But the costs simply didn8217;t work out and so we decided to revamp the Kotla instead. But here, there were about 20 agencies from whom we had to get approval, including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Fire Department, the police.8217;8217;

In between, the government changed8212;Jaitley, then the NDA8217;s Union Commerce and Industry Minister moved to the opposition camp in May 2004. 8216;8216;It helped that I was a minister when the plan was drawn up. I made a few phone calls,8217;8217; admits Jailtey with a smile. 8216;8216;Then, for eight months, nothing happened. Till General Musharraf came.8217;8217;

The Pakistani President8217;s visit to watch the one-day international on April 17, 2005, says Chauhan, was really the turning point for the Kotla. 8216;8216;The overall plan was okayed two and-a-half months before the visit. But we were stuck without any approvals. Finally, with 10-12 days to go for match, we said we can8217;t do it. That, I think, was the lowest point.8217;8217;

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Stung, the UPA government stepped in. 8216;8216;So did Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. I must say, this lady gave us tremendous support. She rose above party politics for cricket,8217;8217; says Chauhan.

AFTER the Pakistan match came the Sri Lanka Test last December and the England ODI last week8212;and the work went on in the background. Says Roopak Kothari, the project8217;s principal architect, 8216;8216;The challenge was to work on the existing stadium which had no proper size or shape.8217;8217;

With the Archaeological Survey of India ASI prohibiting any construction within 100 metres of the Kotla mosque nearby, any renovation in the old club house8212;built for the 1996 World Cup8212; was out. 8216;8216;We went for the flanks. It was a controlled design,8217;8217; says Kothari, adding, 8216;8216;The idea was to have maximum capacity within ASI limits. Subsequently, we went for some degree of sophistication.8217;8217; The vision, says Kothari, is 8216;8216;minimum pillars, maximum viewability8217;8217;.

For Chauhan, though, all that matters is what the new Kotla will mean for young cricketers in Delhi. 8216;8216;The Kotla has its own culture, cricket history. And as players we had toiled there for years, built our lives. From next season, you see, the atmosphere will be charged up. It will be a matter of pride for young players to play for Delhi in the Kotla. We are proud too, we are building something that people will remember for ever.8217;8217;

With inputs from Sumant Banerji

THE KOTLA BLUEPRINT

TOP CORPORATES

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raquo; ONGC, ITC, Tatas, TVS, Bharti, Hutch and JP Hydro Power are among the top players with a share in the Kotla pie

43 CORPORATE BOXES

raquo; 37 in new club house

raquo; 33 sold for Rs 10 lakh per seat for 10 years seating from 20-48. Each box will have A/Cs, TVs, fridges

BRAND STANDS

raquo; Two ends taken for 10 years by ITC and Tatas Rs 5 crore each

raquo; Long on 038; Long-off sold to JP Hydel Power 038; Hutch Rs 2 crore each

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