The former owner of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Vijay Mallya, revealed the real reason for the purchase of the Bengaluru franchise. Before the inaugural season of IPL, Mallya wanted to buy several IPL teams, but Lalit Modi denied his request and he has just had an IPL team.
In a recent podcast with Raj Shamani, Vijay Mallya also revealed that he was the biggest tenderer for three franchises, but chose Bengaluru as his first choice franchise he wanted to have.
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Vijay Mullya’s intention to buy RCB
Mallya had only one intention to buy an IPL franchise just to promote his whiskey brand. Mallaya was impressed by the Lalit Modi field to present the new T20 League to the BCCI.
Mallya was seated in the same meeting where Lalit Modi presented her idea of the Premier League Indian (IPL). Mallya represented the Karnataka State Cricket Association and ended up being the most offering for up to three franchises, but chose Bengaluru.
Lalit called Vijay Mullya To ask him if he was interested in buying a franchise, because the BCCI approved Modi’s proposal, and the teams were going to be sold at auction.
Promotion of the Vijay Mullya whiskey brand
When the IPL was designed, Mallya thought there could not be a better platform to promote his whiskey brand worldwide. Mallaya wanted two IPL teams to promote its two brands, named Kingfisher and Royal Challenge (a whiskey brand).
“… he (Modi) jumped through the hoops. BCCI was quite bureaucratic at that time. He called me one day and said” OK very well, we are ready to leave, the teams will be sold at auction. Are you going to buy? “And I thought in a country where cricket is a religion, what better platform can I have to promote my brand than by an IPL franchise.
Mallya was impatient to buy two IPL or more franchises, but Modi denied and said he could only have one IPL team. The only goal of Mallaya behind the possession of the franchise was just to promote his mark. He admitted that the possession of an IPL team was very focused on business.
How was RCB formed by Vijay Mallya?
Vijay Mallya was involved in tender wars for IPL franchises. Mallya has just lost the Mumbai team by a small margin, and his second choice was Bengaluru. After winning Bengaluru’s offer, Mallya has already thought of the name of his franchise as Royal Challengers Bengaluru to promote his Royal Challenge, a whiskey brand.
“The tender time came, and I was very excited to have an IPL team to promote my marks. I undermined for three franchises, and I lost Mumbai by a very small sum of money. I obviously chose Bangalore. And it was natural that it was the Royal Challengers Bangalore. This is how RCB was born,” added Mallya.
