Royal Challengers Bangalore has decided to explore retail merchandise

In a first for any IPL team, Diageo owned Bengaluru franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has decided to explore retail merchandise of licensed products globally, as a potential revenue stream. The team aims to cash in on the popularity of cricket in India, brand RCB, and marquee player Virat Kohli.

RCB has signed Black White Orange Brand as the global licensing partner and has also roped in knitwear brand Status Quo to launch apparel, figurines, back-to-school product range and more in the coming months.

Amrit Thomas,chairman, RCB and CMO, Diageo India “The first to hit the stores will be lifestyle fashion apparels, including t-shirts, under RCB athleisure. This will be for the first time that any IPL team has an apparel range beyond the traditional offering of player and fan kits. “While the IPL season is over, the journey is not. And we want to build RCB as a lifestyle brand, which remains relevant throughout the year and not just during the two months when IPL is on”.

Thomas says the merchandise will allow the team to build a stronger bond with fans, who form the true force behind the franchise. “Each of our designs are an extension of the team’s fearless and bold attitude which resonates with the youth of today.”

The RCB Autumn-Winter 2017 will have about 24 options and Status Quo is manufacturing around 20,000-25,000 pieces of merchandise. Later, when IPL’s next season kicks off, the Spring-Summer collection will be launched which will see over 37 options and 40,000-50,000 pieces in market.

While sports is one of the largest areas of licensing globally, according to data from International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA), it constitutes a miniscule role with a mere 1.3% of the total sales of licensed merchandise. Last year, Indian retail sales of licenced products were at $1.4 billion, of which only $18 million was garnered by sports merchandise.