IPL T20 Cricket South Africa 2009

Team Owner(s): GMR Holdings

Franchise Fee: $84 million

Website: http://www.delhidaredevils.com

The GMR Group successfully won the bid as a Franchisee for Indian Premier League (IPL) sponsored 20-20 Delhi Team. This bid was won in an interesting and intensely contested auction organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). While the GMR Group has marked its presence in the capital through its modernising and restructuring of the Delhi International Airport, the winning of the franchisee rights for the Delhi 20-20 team augments the Group's commitment to build social assets in the important National Capital Region (NCR) and the surrounding catchment regions.

The reason for the Group to venture into this highly people-intensive category to support good cricket and more so, the 20-20 form of it, is three-fold;

1. The Group believes that sports, particularly Cricket, is a very important connect with the community at large
2. Through this, the Group will also be able to achieve its social objectives of promoting and nurturing talent, especially in the areas around the Capital at the grass-roots level
3. While acting as a custodian of the team which truly belongs to the community at large, the Group would provide the role of being a mentor to promote this game and also help obtain for itself the goodwill of the community in the Capital. This, it believes, would help it build its brand across various sections of the society in the long run

The supporting activities of the Group would come under the banner of a new company called 'GMR Sports Private Ltd' under the parent company 'GMR Holdings Private Ltd'.

GMR Sports Ltd would be an independent entity with a CEO and various professionals managing its diverse businesses. Over time, this company would also look at avenues for growth through other sporting activities, besides cricket. Various professional agencies have been engaged to promote the different facets of this activity to focus on areas such as branding, event management and public relations activities related to the media and other constituencies.

After a detailed examination of various options, the brand name `Delhi Daredevils' was finalised for the team. Essentially this name demonstrates the passion, fighting spirit and dynamism of the City of Delhi, which would hopefully get reflected through the participation of the team in this fastest form of Cricket 20-20.

The Delhi Daredevils Team ended their season with brilliant performances in the league matches and entering the semi finals.