out to make amends for an early exit in M | Forum

Theres plenty going right with badminton at the moment. Wholesale Blue Jays Jerseys . There are at least ten Indians playing tournaments across the globe at any point of time. In Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu, the sport has an extremely popular icon. So if you were a marketer, the Premier Badminton League auction on November 9 might have seemed an easy product to sell. Yet at the convention center of a South Delhi five star hotel, where six teams of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) would bid for players for the third edition of the league, there was something else on everyones mind. The auction had been upended just a few hours earlier by a far bigger announcement. The previous evening, prime minister Narendra Modi declared that 500 and 1000 rupee notes were no longer legal tender. It was the start of whats been termed demonetization.The auction got completely hijacked by the issue. Some of the media who we expected to cover the league werent around because they were running around trying to make sense of this. We knew that things had changed, says Prasad Mandipudi, managing director of Sportslive, which owns the rights to the PBL.The governments decision was expected to have an impact - certainly in the short term - on the Indian economy. And indeed the alphabet soup of sporting leagues in India were not going to be immune to those changes. Within a few days, the Pro Wrestling League (PWL), scheduled to begin from December 15, was postponed to January. Last week Mahesh Bhupathis International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) announced that two of their biggest names - Roger Federer and Serena Williams - would not be returning to the league this year.We have had challenges this year, Bhupathi admitted. He blamed the current economic climate in India and uncertainty of spending money for the withdrawal of big names.Its an assessment shared by other sport leagues in the country too. 99 percent of organized sports are funded by the market scenario. I think we were the first guys to say ten days ago that demonetization has hit us really bad. Its time that everyone should be honest and talk about it, says an official associated with the PWL.There is no doubting that financially the leagues have been hit particularly since advertising spends - the primary source of revenues -- have fallen across the board. According to reported estimates, advertising will take a hit of between Rs. 1500 and 2000 crore this quarter.There is pain. Team owners are worried because sponsorships have dried up completely. Because for a company, spending on sports is last in terms of priority. Ive read a figure of Rs 5000 crore thats been cancelled for the next two quarters. So yes, it has had an impact, says Mandipudi.While the overall economic uncertainty is the predominant cause of concern, the shortage of hard cash - currency notes - is causing headaches as well. While leagues say that all athletes receive their payments through official banking channels, there are other costs that need to be taken care of as well.Twenty percent of my league budget is spent on travel and lodging. Another 20 percent goes in marketing. 60 percent of my budget is spent in operational costs. Thats money I need for buying equipment, security, labour etc. Operational costs are almost entirely conducted in cash. If you have some exigency, you are still going to need some cash. Suppose a light goes off, you will have to pay cash and get it replaced. If you have to get a stage made, you cant hope that the labourers will accept Paytm. Thats not happened yet, says the PWL official.Not all leagues are created equal and indeed some will weather the current economic climate better than others. It depends on what the owners are in the league for. Owning a team is very aspirational. Because if you have the intent to stick around in this business and if money is not a concern then you will not be bothered, says the official. He is referring to the Reliance-owned Indian Super League (ISL), which began before demonetization and has seemingly not been affected by it.There is more of a challenge?for smaller leagues. In order to cut costs, the PWL has shifted all its matches to Delhi. We cant overspend. The main objective is conducting the league and by shifting to Delhi we have halved our operational costs, says the official.But while the PWL has scaled down, Mandipudi has said there are no plans to do so for the PBL, which remains a multi-city tournament. This isnt to say they have found a loophole in the system.We have been able to go to the team owners and tell them that they will lose more money than they planned this time. We ourselves had to rewrite our expected profit and loss statements three times from what we began with. Some of the franchises have asked us to help out with their marketing costs and we have done that as well. We have accepted that we will take a hit but we will keep moving forward, he says.Mandipudi says after the initial shock, leagues are adapting to the change. A couple of days ago, the league had a press conference in Hyderabad on short notice. This would be one of the moments where cash might have been needed for an exigency.Usually the vendors - these are the guys who make the backdrop, the standees and photographers were paid in cash. This time around they have submitted their bills and given their account numbers, Mandipudi says.He adds that in the current scenario, leagues need to have credibility. I needed some T-Shirts for the press conference. I knew a vendor in Mumbai and he made the T shirts and couriered them to Hyderabad. In the past I would have had to pay a cash advance but this time around, he was willing to wait for his payment, he says.Mandipudi says that there are still some positives sports leagues can take away from the current climate.Normally the season between the festivals of Diwali (November) and Pongal (mid-January) is when advertisers make the most money. Now, since there have been so many cancellations, I can negotiate good terms with the TV guys, newspapers and hoarding guys to promote my own brand. The newspapers, TV guys will have to sell their ad space. I can get better value for my own budget, he says.Mandipudi believes ticket sales will pick up as well. Demonetisation doesnt make you poorer as an individual. Your cash is tied up in the banks but Im confident that my target market will not be affected. The audience for this league is urban, upper middle-class people who mostly buy tickets online, says Mandipudi, who expects to sell 70 percent of tickets for the league.The demonetization scenario is just a temporary bump on what Mandipudi calls the beginning of a growth curve. Do you think because of the current crisis, the corporate world will stop investing in the country? It doesnt mean that the Indian story is doomed. This league isnt a goose that you can make money off in a years time. It will take five years at least to see something out of it. Our team owners understand this as well, he says.Indeed if the events of the day of the auction are any clue, the PBL has reason to be hopeful. After some of the TV crews didnt come for the auction, they called me and asked if I had any video I could share. They still wanted to carry it on air, says Mandipudi. Toronto Blue Jays Pro Shop . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Fake Blue Jays Jerseys . -- Arizona knocked off some quality opponents, rolled over a few overmatched ones and grinded out victories even when things didnt go so well. https://www.cheapbluejays.com/ . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half.Novak Djokovic takes on talented teenager Borna Coric at the Madrid Open on Wednesday, aiming to improve his clay-court season. 2016 ATP Masters 1000 winners Indian Wells Novak Djokovic Miami Novak Djokovic Monte Carlo Rafa Nadal The world No 1 is bidding to bounce back from his shock second-round defeat at the hands of Jiri Vesely at the Monte Carlo Masters last month and will face 19-year-old Coric, who saw off Nicolas Almagro on Tuesday.Djokovic has won the Madrid Masters crown on one previous occasion, back in 2011 and he will want to up his clay-court preparations as he bids to win the one Grand Slam crown that has so far evaded him - the French Open. Roland-Garros gets underway on May 22 and despite his wobble in Monte Carlo, the Serb has already claimed two of the three Masters titles this year as well as the Australian Open.Djokovic is meeting Coric for the first time but the Croatian teenager already has two finals under his belt this season, including one on clay in Marrakech.Coverage on Sky Sports 1 gets underway at 11am on Wednesday and there is an all-Spanish affair to kick off proceedings on the show courts with Feliciano Lopez up against Roberto Bautista-Agut, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga takes on Albert Ramos-Vinolas.David Ferrer is up against American qualifier Denis Kudla, Juan Martin Del Potro will look to continue his return to form when he meets Jack Sock while eighth seed Tomas Berdych faces Denis Istomin.   Masters of their Trade Nadal and Djokovic at the top of the tree One to WatchFourth seed Stan Wawrinka has been woefully out of sorts since winning the Dubai Open in February and Australias Nick Kyrgios is a very obvious threat - the pair also have previous after a verbal altercation in Montreal revolving around Wawrinkas girlfriend Donna Vekic.Already this season, the 21-year-old from Canberra has claimed his maiden ATP title with a win in Marseille and made no fewer than three semi-finals, one of which ended in him retiring injured against Wawrinka in Dubai while the Aussie produced a career best Masters effort in reaching the last four in Miami Masters. Stan Wawrinka and Nick Kyrgios have not always seen eye-to-eye Wawrinka, a double Grand Slam champion, has suffered defeats to David Goffin and Andrey Kuznetsov in Masters events thhis year and despite a run to the semi-final in Monte Carlo, he was outgunned by Rafa Nadal and could be an early casualty in Spain this week. Cheap Blue Jays Jerseys. Surprise in StoreThe clay is always capable of throwing up an upset or two and already this week weve had 12th seed David Goffin and 14th seed Dominic Thiem fall by the wayside as well as Grigor Dimitrov, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Bernard Tomic falling to players ranked below them. Fabio Fognini , the maverick Italian capable of stunning the worlds best Wednesday could be a similar tale with Italian maverick and clay-court specialist Fabio Fognini more than capable of surprising number six seed Kei Nishikori.Fognini beat Tomic on Tuesday in their first round encounter and while he has been below his best for much of the season with several early exits, but coupled with his favourite surface, a top-ten player and a high-profile event that is usually when the mercurial Italian is at his best.The pair have met on one previous occasion with Nishikori victorious in four sets at the 2011 Australian Open, and Fognini is a very different threat on the red dirt with all three of his career titles coming on clay. In Case You Missed ItBernard Tomic was a first round casualty on Tuesday and effectively handed his opponent victory at match point in Madrid. Novak Djokovic is out to make amends for an early exit in Monte Carlo Rafa Nadal moved into the the last 16 with a routine win over Andrey Kuznetsov and Andy Murray saw of a resiliant and at times inspired Radek Stepanek to advance. Murrays Masters route Who could Andy Murray face in Madrid? You can follow all the action from Madrid on Wednesday with the action getting underway on Sky Sports 1 from 11am. Also See: Barry Cowans Madrid questions Murrays Masters route Latest scores Sign in to watch on Sky Sports 1 ' ' '