Hockey has struggled in India in recent decades following its golden period of success. The Premier Hockey League (PHL) was formed in 2005 as a joint project between ESPN-Star Sports and the Indian Hockey Federation to revive interest in the sport. It utilized international players and teams from hockey strongholds across India in a single round-robin format with playoffs. While the PHL generated interest and viewership in its early years, it struggled with lack of private sponsorship and government support over time.

1. 1 Analysis of PHL

2. Agenda Comparative Study and SWOT Hockey over the years Viewership PHL Hockey Hubs India Financials of PHL Key success factors Hockey League India Marketing Strategies PHL PHL Background 2

3. Hockey – India- over the Years Failed to qualify for Olympics for 1st time IHF Officials caught taking bribes Politics in Hockey Poor selection Astro Turfs comes European Style vs Indian Style Indian hockey downfall starts 1928 1956 1980 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008 2010 Golden Period 6 Olympic Gold 100% Win record in Olympic matches IHF suspended in 2008 IOA takes over hockey India fares badly in 2010 WC Gets Silver Medal in 2010 CWG Lost 1960 Olympic Gold Won 2 more later in 1964 & 1980 Indian wins cricket WC 1983 Cricket Becomes the no.1 popular sport PHL is formed Tournament staged for 4 years Gives hope for hockey revival in India 3

4. Hockey Hubs- India Haryana has become hub for women’s hockey as Punjab has increased its focus on men’s hockey in the past few years Orissa - Rourkela has produced some of the best hockey players for India at the international level. DilipTirkey and deep defender Lazarus Barla are from Orissa ArjunHallapa present Indian ace forward is from Kodagu tribuneindia.com livemint.com 4

6. Modeled on the grounds of U.S. NBA league.

7. Played during the months of December and January

8. Single round-robin format, wherein all teams played each other once.

9. Semifinals -the top four teams contended against each other,

10. followed by the Finals- Best of 3 format.

11. Total of 26 matched in each season

12. Every team is allowed to field up to five international players.

13. Penalty shootout competition, modeled on grounds of the Major League Soccer penalty shootout.

14. Incorporated teams from the traditional hockey bastions, such as Mumbai, Punjab, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu.

15. 2005 & 2006 2 tiers- division1 and division 2; 2007 & 2008- Only division 15

19. Tagline is 'GarvNahinTohKuchNahin‘

20. Reviving people’s interest in PHL and hockey as a National sport through team’s Brand ambassadors.A normal hockey game- 70 minute- 2 sessions, each of 35 minutes. PHL- 4 sessions each of 17.5 minutes. Hindu.com bharatiyahockey.org Brand Ambassador Team PrakashPadukone Ravi Shastri Madhavan Jimmy Shergill VVS Laxman Source: indiantelevision.com 7

21. Viewership -PHL Source: planetfieldhockey.com 8

22. Key Success Factors for Hockey League- India Chances of Success Medium in Long Run 3 9

23. Operating Expenses Players & Staff Source : Link Source: Link Prizes Prize money PHL-1  71 Lakhs PHL-4  76 Lakhs Production Costs 10

24. Revenues- Guesstimates Advertising Revenue – On TV , In Stadium This is the total amount which ING paid for 4 years Ticket Revenue Revenue from Sponsors Chandigarh Stadium was filled the most every time. Stadium Revenue from hosting in Chandigarh would have been higher There is hardly any information about in stadia advertising 11

25. Overall Financials- Income Statement Venture would only have been successful in case of Medium level and High Level Ticket price- 100 or 150 Rs 12

27. Teams were not legal entities with assets and liabilities

28. Teams dependent on PHL

29. Teams had no say in their own player selection

30. PHL bypassed the geographically diverse hockey hotbeds of India Punjab, Orissa, Coorg, Manipur etc

31. Hockey glamorized

32. Brought recognition to our players

33. Generated a lot of public interest

35. Launch ceremony extravagance can help in gathering public and media coverage.

36. Consolidation of the hockey committee

37. Twenty20 Cricket

38. Indian Cricket League earlier and IPL later on

39. General lack of media in covering Hockey event.

40. Lack of proper private sector sponsorship and involvement

41. Inconsistent government planning and lack of leadership13

43. Sponsors only for individual teams

44. No sponsor of premier range

45. Huge size

46. Multi layered sponsors like Premier- Hyundai and Adidas,

47. Mid - FTI Touristik- travel partners

48. Huge size

49. Major league sponsors like Novotel-hotel group of choice, Kukri- global sportswear brand, Body Science Asics, Kookaburra Sport-

50. Huge sponsors size

52. Support to junior clubs is huge

53. Small government support

54. Lack of leadership,

55. Corruption in selection and team allocation

56. Major infrastructure through ESPN and private sponsors

57. Australian Olympic Committee

58. Australian Commonwealth Games Association

61. Use of hockey players to promote the activities .

62. Interactive Team websites with high social media activities

63. Promotion activities followed by promotion partners like Yahoo,

64. Small promotion activities

65. Major use of bollywood for the promotion.

66. JWT used for logo design

67. Use of fashion designer for uniform design

68. Matches during Christmas holidays

69. Adidas has the DHB merchandise in stores

71. Huge media coverage with a dedicated page in National dailies.

72. Interviews and talk shows with hockey players.

73. publicity of the national team achievements

74. Small coverage of the Launch ceremony.

75. Media coverage of the foothold of ESPN

76. Bad publicity as Hockey team didn’t qualify for Olympics

77. Coverage in Dailies both regional and national .

79. Provisions by ESPN and regional sponsors

80. Good infrastructure as people donate to their favourite teams.

81. Sponsors provide equipments, sportswear, logistics

82. Sponsors provide equipments, sportswear, logistics

83. Good infrastructure with government support .

84. Sponsor provide food, hotels, sport equipments Infrastructure

85. References http://in.rediff.com/sports/phl06.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_Premier_Hockey_League_players http://www.topnews.in/sports/hockey-india-last-pays-players-rs-1-crore-28631 http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Premier_Hockey_League http://www.indianhockey.com/Tournaments/PremierHockeyLeague/PHL2005/tabid/88/language/en-US/Default.aspx http://www.indiabiznews.com/biznews/categoryNewsDesc.jsp?catId=19555 http://www.livemint.com/2007/07/04003025/Western-Union-taps-remittance.html http://www.planetfieldhockey.com/PFH/Item-View-16925-95 http://www.afaqs.com/news/company_briefs/index.html?id=5870_IHF+announces+Tier+I+teams+for+Premier+Hockey+League http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050212/asp/weekend/story_4348506.asp http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040207/spr-trib.htm#2 http://www.merinews.com/article/sports-in-punjab/15797463.shtml http://www.livemint.com/2007/07/04003025/Western-Union-taps-remittance.html http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/786526/About-Domestic-sports-sponsorship/ 15