The star power of owner Shah Rukh Khan and consistent on-field performance in recent years have catapulted Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders into the profit zone even as most other franchises of the popular twenty20 tournament are yet to hit pay dirt.

Kolkata Knight Riders, or KKR, posted the highest revenues among all IPL teams in 2014-15, the last year for which data was available, when it posted 30% growth in revenues and 54% jump in profits despite the fact that half of the tournament in 2014 was played in the UAE due to Lok Sabha elections.

No other IPL team has shown such consistent profits, not even Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians — the other two teams to have won the tournament more than once — as most teams have yet to open up new revenue sources such as merchandising and digital activities. Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd, which runs KKR, had revenues of Rs 168.71crore in 2014-15, the year it won the tournament for a second time, up from Rs 128.81 crore in the previous year.

Its profits stood at Rs 14.15 crore, up from Rs 9.19 crore in the previous year, according to business research platform Tofler that compiled IPL teams’ data from Registrar of Companies (RoC) and other regulatory filings. “Sponsors love that Shah Rukh Khan wears the shirt with their logos on it. That’s a big draw. And if a team is doing well, it can negotiate better,” said Varun Gupta, managing director of advisory services firm American Appraisal.

The only other team that was in the green in 2014-15 was Kings XI Punjab, which finished second behind KKR in 2014, with profits of Rs 12.76 crore, up from a loss of Rs 4.36 crore in the previous year. Kings XI also reported a 26% year-onyear increase in its revenues at Rs 130.06 crore in 2014-15, up from Rs 103.22 crore. The Indian Premier League has seen a lot of turmoil in the past couple of years.

Spot-fixing and betting allegations that led to some arrests, litigations and suspension of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two years, among other issues, hit the image of the league. In the first few years of the league, most teams were hopeful of managing a breakeven in three to four years. But data shows that most teams have not managed that turnaround even as the ninth edition of the tournament is underway.