Kochi: Champions Boat League, the country’s first water-based sports league patterned on IPL, will begin on August 10 with the Nehru Trophy Boat Race on Punnamada Lake in Alappuzha district, organisers said here Wednesday.
The prestigious water sports event will end with the Presidents Trophy Boat Race in Kollam on the states Formation Day (November 1).
Staggered over nearly three months, the high stakes popular mass event will witness nine teams participating in 12 races across 12 locations on 12 weekends, from August 10 until November 1.
A clutch of Indian corporates and well-known celebrities with interest in national sports leagues are in active discussions for franchisee acquisitions of Kerala Tourisms inaugural CBL, the countrys first-ever water-based sports league patterned on the IPL format of cricket, Kerala Tourism said in the release.
July 25 (Thursday) is the last date for bidding for CBL.
Franchisee team ownerships will be finalized and announced at an auction in Kochi on July 29, it said.
Franchisees are to benefit through sponsorships and TV and digital rights.
All the benefits from the sponsorship, venue, ticket collection, TV and digital rights and merchandising will be shared with them, the release said.
“The expected participation of national corporates and celebrities in the CBLs bidding process will give a huge impetus to Kerala’s famous, but largely scattered snake boat races by professionalizing and commercializing the event on the lines of IPL,” Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said.
Significantly,it can be the tipping point in glamourising monsoon tourism in Kerala by adding an enchanting product for tourists during the lean months from June to late October and thus making the state a 365-day destination, he said.
“It will be a win-win situation for all the stakeholders, be it a franchisee owner, a boat owner/club or an oarsman.
Tourists will also benefit as they will be treated to the enchanting spectacle of boat races in Keralas famous scenic backwaters,” said Finance Minister Thomas Isaac.
Tourism Secretary Rani George said CBL is a unique product developed by Kerala Tourism with twin objectives: create a new visual experience for visitors from August to October and also benefit the local community through the league boat races.
Tourism Director P Bala Kiran said the Nehru Trophy boat race is viewed by more than four lakh people directly.
“The Eden Gardens stadium can only seat 60,000 people and the Melbourne Cricket Ground around 90,000 people.
I think this is one of the largest sporting spectacles vis–vis the live audience and also the huge televised audience which IPL does with.
We want to magnify it, commercialize it and telewire it for a global audience”, he said.
The CBL winner will get a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh, while those finishing second and third receive Rs 15 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively. (PTI)
