Chennai team floated for Amritraj’s Champions Tennis League

CHENNAI: It’s official. Chennai finally will have some reason for cheer with the Vijay Amritraj-owned Champions Tennis League (CTL) floating the city franchise — V Chennai Warriors.
As reported by TOI on Friday, the side will have Rainer Schuttler, Fernando Verdasco, Heather Watson and Vishnu Vardhan in its ranks.
Co-owned by Dr Ishari K Ganesh, chancellor of Vels University and actor Prabhu Deva, the Chennai side will play its home ties at the SDAT stadium on November 25 and 26 against Hyderabad and Nagpur respectively.
With the plan for a Chennai team falling through last year, it’s hard not to notice that this time around too it’s been a late, almost last-minute entrant.
“The concern for me with regard to staging matches in this city has been the weather. If we get clear weather, then the stands would be full and the ambience terrific just like a semifinal or final of Chennai Open. We just have two days and we’ve come up with a points system in the instance of a wash-out,” said Amritraj.
“It’s exactly as I expected. Last year, the league was for 10 days this time we’ve managed to make it 14 days. The tie-break is at 4-4 as opposed to 6-6 last time. My thought process was hopefully by the third or fourth year we could go to eight teams and I’m still with that thought. I’m sure the league will be a lot better this time,” he said.
Allaying concerns over the sustainability of the league with three of its six franchises opting out just into its second year, the former pro explains, “Replacement was not the issue. The right replacement was. The contract period is optional. There was no issue with the economics. Not only Chennai, there were several other cities also that were keen on coming on board. We’re relatively new on the block and there are bound to be hiccups. It was a given that not all owners or cities are going to stay.”
With the International Premier Tennis League just round the corner, does it take away from the CTL’s sheen and novelty? “Firstly, theirs is not an Indian league. Also, unlike our players, all their players don’t play in all the matches. So we aren’t actually competing with each other.”
Breaking down the economics of running a tennis league, Amritraj emphasizes that it’s a win-win situation for franchise owners. “Our biggest plus is that we are probably one of the least expensive leagues in the country. Franchises make revenues from any local sponsorships they have, any tickets they may sell and from the 18 player appearances that they may want to monetize. Basically, all local revenue goes to them and they get a portion of the national revenue as well,” he adds.
As long as the cash registers are ringing, no one’s complaining.