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Vinit Karnik, head of media company GroupM’s division that straddles leisure, e-sports and sports activities, is tough to rile even if you happen to oppose his view that India’s sports activities business isn’t just about cricket. Karnik has been monitoring the sports activities business for a decade and publishing his findings in an annual report on India’s burgeoning enterprise of sports activities. The report analyses traits from the attitude of sponsorships, athlete endorsements and media spends by manufacturers. Yearly, Karnik claims that non-cricket sports activities (soccer, kabaddi, badminton, hockey et al) are additionally rising although their contribution to the entire sports activities income hovers round 15%. The newest report launched on Tuesday reveals that rising sports activities income declined by a marginal 1% (to ₹2,065 crore) in 2023 over 2022 whereas cricket income grew 13% in the identical interval.
Ask Karnik why non-cricket sports activities continues to be a tiny enterprise opposite to his claims, he says evaluating rising sports activities to cricket will not be the proper manner to take a look at the enterprise. “Sports activities was a ₹2,400 crore enterprise in 2008 when Indian Premier League (IPL) began. At the moment, our sports activities business stands at ₹15,766 crore of which cricket enjoys 87% share. Non-cricket sports activities have additionally grown because the pie has grown,” he says.
India’s sports activities business has grown at 13.2% yr on yr. “A whole lot of work goes unnoticed since we’re so massive and various,” he says. India has hosted two ODI World Cups and a T20 World Cup. It additionally held the MotoGP Bharat (bike racing) final yr and the Beneath-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017.
The previous few years have seen Indian athletes break contemporary floor — like Neeraj Chopra’s monitor and discipline gold on the Olympics, the Thomas Cup win in badminton, the wealthy medal haul on the Asian Video games and the information in sports activities like wrestling, boxing, capturing and many others. “These wins are the results of a fast-blossoming sports activities tradition in our nation which could have reflections within the large advances we have now made within the commercialization of sports activities too,” the report stated.
The federal government and personal enterprises, too, are doing their bit to advertise non-cricketing sports activities. “Authorities is growing the sports activities funds by 30% yr on yr. It leads the Khelo India programme which begins on the faculty and faculty stage to construct belief and confidence in selling sports activities. It launched the Match India motion for individuals such as you and me who are usually not professionals,” Karnik provides.
Moreover, firms like Reliance, JSW, Adani and Tatas are all supporting completely different sports activities and athletes by way of their foundations. “It’s resulted in a rise in medal tallies and improved efficiency of our athletes on the world stage. So, I have a look at this enterprise from this lens and never the slender lens of rising sports activities’ income contribution alone,” Karnik says.
He agrees that no different league has been in a position to replicate the success of IPL as a result of cricket is faith right here. “We now have a cricket historical past of greater than 40 years. World over, sports activities is a enterprise that builds worth over time. I’m not denying that cricket enjoys 87% income share whereas at 13%, rising sports activities income may be very small. For the 13% to develop into 20%- 25% will take time,” he says.
Sports activities advertising skilled Indranil Das Blah says that non-cricket sports activities will rise if they’ve nationwide icons like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni in cricket. “We now have Neeraj Chopra immediately however we’d like extra stars in different sports activities. They should tick many extra containers earlier than different sports activities actually emerge and that’s an extended haul,” he says.
Nevertheless, he believes that non-cricket sports activities pie will develop because the authorities has realized the delicate energy of sports activities. “That is why it needs to bid for internet hosting the 2036 Olympics,” he provides.
Whereas the rising sports activities economic system will take time to dash, cricket will proceed to develop and stay larger, Karnik says. “From a sponsorship standpoint, rising sports activities is round ₹1,528 crore whereas cricket is over ₹7,000 crore. In some years, cricket development charges could plateau however it should nonetheless stay the biggest sport in India,” he says.
A brand new Ormax Sports activities Viewers Report estimates India’s sports activities viewers base at 678 million. Cricket, soccer and kabaddi are the highest three sports activities, with an viewers base of 612, 305 and 208 million respectively, it stated.
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