Cricket no more a monopoly in the money game. Football, tennis, hockey teaming up for more.

Cheerleaders, powerplay, brand icons could no more crack the code. Having ruled the heart of millions for almost three decades, the gentleman’s game is gradually losing its sheen in terms of sponsorship, which is a parameter for a game’s popularity. A recent study by GroupM ESP, the entertainment, sports and content arm of media agency GroupM has come up with a revelation that other sports including football, tennis, hockey and even kabaddi have gained popularity last year.

As per a news report by The Economic Times, Value of ground sponsorship for cricket has fell to Rs 464.7 crore in 2014 from Rs 508.3 crore in 2013 while team sponsorship fell from Rs 389.2 crore in 2013 to Rs 347.8 crore, even as the sports industry grew 10 per cent.

The ET clarifies, ground sponsorship is the money central sponsors in any sport pay to the organisers of a tournament. Team sponsorship is the money each team earns from selling the real estate on its apparel. The report compares calendar years. The 10 per cent growth in the sports industry, from Rs 4,372.5 crore in calendar year 2013 to Rs 4,809.69 crore in 2014, is due to the emergence of new tournaments.
Following the same format as IPL , football, hockey and kabbadi as well as tennis have inflated their kitties in terms of ground and team sponsorships, franchise fees, endorsements and on-air revenues of advertisers.

The financial daily further mentions, the Indian cricket team's sponsorship price dipped to Rs 2 crore per match in 2014, the amount Star agreed to pay, from Rs 3.33 crore per match in 2013 that Airtel was paying. The downward trajectory in the level of interest in cricket can be gauged by the fact that only two companies - Star and Micromax - showed interest in obtaining title rights compared with the last bidding cycle when over 10 contenders were in the fray.

Other sports are starting to attract serious money. Football, for instance, saw a 227 per cent year-on-year increase in the total value of team sponsorship from Rs 26.5 crore in 2013 to Rs 60.3 crore on the back of the new Rupert Murdoch and Mukesh Ambani-backed Indian Super League. Other sports leagues - kabaddi, tennis and others - saw a massive jump of 1,064 per cent in team sponsorship, from just Rs 7 crore in 2013 to Rs 74.5 crore in 2014.


GroupM ESP says in the report that overall team sponsorship across all sports rose a healthy 14 per cent from Rs 432.7 crore in 2013 to Rs 493.6 crore in 2014, despite the 10.6 per cent fall in cricket team sponsorship. And while noncricket sports together accounted for just 10 per cent of the team sponsorship pie in 2013, it has now risen significantly to just under 30 per cent, a startling shift in the course of a year.

(Image: India Times)