Hockey Bharata - Money Matters

Currently, the prize money being offered by major Indian hockey tournaments totals around Rs. 16 lakhs (USD 36,000), with the breakup being as follows:

Category	Venue	Tournament	Prize Money
Grand Slam	Mumbai	Aga Khan Tournament	Rs. 3 lakhs
	Kolkata	Beighton Cup	Rs. 2.25 lakhs
	Delhi	Jawaharlal Nehru Tournament	Rs. 5 lakhs
	Chennai	Madras Cricket Club Gold Cup	Rs. 1.25 lakhs
			Rs. 11.5 lakhs
Elite	Lucknow	K. D. Singh Babu Tournament	Rs. 65,000
	Jalandhar	Surjeet Memorial Tournament	Rs. 1.25 lakhs
	Bhopal	Obaidullah Khan Gold Cup	Rs. 1.5 lakhs
Hockey Hinterland	Coorg	All India Kodagu Cup	Rs. 1.25 lakhs
			Rs. 4.65 lakhs

In PHL Season II, once the above tournaments become part of the Hockey Bharata circuit, it is proposed to more than quadruple the prize money being offered. Hockey Bharata will consist of a Rs. 70 lakhs (USD 160,000) prize money circuit, with the following distribution:

A total of Rs. 10 lakhs (USD 23,000) in individual player awards would be distributed at the end of the Hockey Bharata tour. Tournament-wise point totals will be computed for the following categories:

Category	Prize Money
Forward of the Year	Rs. 2 lakhs
Midfielder of the Year	Rs. 2 lakhs
Full Back of the Year	Rs. 2 lakhs
Goalkeeper of the Year	Rs. 2 lakhs
Coach of the Year	Rs. 2 lakhs

The season-ending Tour Championship, featuring 8 top-ranked domestic teams and 8 foreign teams, is the only tournament that is being created specifically for the Tour. ESPN-Star would have to work with the local hockey association to conduct the event. Estimated expenses for the tournament would be Rs. 20 lakhs (USD 45,000).

PHL Season I offered Rs. 71 lakhs (USD 162,000) in prize money, with a partial breakup as follows:

Amount	Recipient
Rs. 30 lakhs	Tier I Winner
Rs. 10 lakhs	Tier I Runner Up
Rs. 4 lakhs	Tier II Winner
Rs. 2.5 lakhs	Tier II Runner Up

PHL Season II will offer comparable prize money (Rs. 70 lakhs), but spread over 18 installments (winner/runner up in 9 different tournaments in 9 different venues). There is more incentive for teams to do well in the Hockey Bharata tour, as they have multiple opportunities to win prize money at different stages in the season.

PHL Season I had an estimated total budget of Rs. 3.5 crores (USD 800,000). This mainly covered the operating expenses of organising a completely new event in the Indian hockey calendar - a month-long league involving 10 teams featuring 160 Indian and foreign players.

Hockey Bharata's expenses will be far less than that of PHL Season I, since it will be a Tour of already existing tournaments, except only for a new season-ending Tour Championship. Hockey Bharata needs a total budget of Rs. 1 crore (USD 225,000), with the 3 main expenses being:

Category	Amount
Prize money for the 9 Hockey Bharata tournaments	Rs. 70 lakhs
Organising the season-ending Tour Championship	Rs. 20 lakhs
Season-ending player awards in 5 categories	Rs. 10 lakhs
Total	Rs. 100 lakhs

Any professional league should have teams that run like profit making enterprises. PHL Season I teams, despite having fancy names like 'Maratha Warriors' and 'Sher-e-Jalandhar', were not legal entities with assets and liabilities. The 'teams' were wholly dependent on the PHL for their financial and staffing needs. Once the month-long PHL got over, the teams no longer existed and the players went on to to other jobs.

In contrast, teams in the proposed Hockey Bharata tour are long-standing and well established institutions, with the financial means to improve themselves relative to the other teams. For example, if any of the teams wants to hire say a penalty corner coach or purchase a real-time video analysis system, and they have the budget to do it, they can go ahead without having to take anybody's permission, least of all, the IHF's permission.

Introduction	Indian Context	Tour Name	Tour Structure
Money Matters
Tour Venues	Tour Logistics	Money Matters	Media Matters