With rising sports sponsorships, more leagues are expected to join the fray. Some leagues, which till now had only one season are looking to break the year into two seasons to cash in on the demand.
While a new table tennis league on the lines of the IPL is expected to be launched by July, others, like the Premier Futsal League, are mulling having two seasons in a year, akin to the Pro Kabaddi League last year.
Other leagues which marked its presence recently include a mixed martial arts league, a powerboat grand prix and eSports leagues.
Currently, there are six major sports leagues: the Indian Premier League, the Indian Super League, Hockey India League, Premier Badminton League, Pro Kabbadi League, the International Premier Tennis League.
Procam International, which recently introduced a powerboat racing in Mumbai, said it was keen to take the grand prix of powerboats to other cities.
“Powerboat Grand Prix are huge spectator sports globally and we wanted to bring the same to India. We are looking to take the grand prix to other cities as well,” Vivek Singh, Cofounder, Procam International, said. Singh said the company plans to have a full circuit of 21 events by 2020, backed by a healthy line of sponsors.
Similarly, the maiden edition of the Super Fight League commenced its first season in January this year. “We saw an opportunity in promoting a league in India as both wrestling and boxing have been traditionally played here,” Bill Dosanjh, CEO and principal founder, Super Fight League, had said. The company has invested about ₹60 crore in the league. According to an ESP-Sportzpower report, cricket still attracts the largest sponsors with the Indian Premier League’s team sponsorships growing 25.85 per cent, from ₹341.2 crore in 2015 to ₹429.4 crore in 2016.
Football, on the other hand, saw a marginal drop from ₹99 crore in 2015 to ₹98.2 crore in 2016, whereas kabbadi saw a major rise with two seasons in 2016. Kabaddi’s sponsorship revenue grew ₹118 crore in 2015 to ₹172 crore in 2016.
The Badminton League in its new Premier Badminton League avatar saw ₹8 crore in sponsorships.
Vinit Karnik, Business Head, ESP Properties, said, “There was doubt about the longevity of such leagues which had mushroomed since 2011-12. Tennis fared the worst with both Champions Tennis League and IPTL taking huge hits. CTL disappeared and IPLT stayed afloat with a watered-down version. PWL had to push dates ahead as their finances got affected by demonetisation. But we also saw the return of Premier Badminton League and two seasons of the kabaddi league. But the industry survived the blips and sports sponsorship grew to touch ₹6,400-crore mark.”
Key sponsorship drivers“Going by the 2016 performance, the expectation is that PKL, ISL and Pro Wrestling Leagues will be key sponsorship drivers behind big elephant IPL in 2017,” the report said, adding that the franchise contribution has shown a growth of 4.97 per cent from ₹201.2 crore to ₹211.2 crore.
This includes an additional ₹18–20 crore from another edition of the PKL in 2017 itself. Though other sports lost out from the pushing forward of the Pro Wrestling League and fewer franchises in Indian Premier Tennis League, the return of Premier Badminton League to the arena saw its six franchises collectively pay nearly ₹20 crore to league owner Badminton Association of India.