As India’s sports ecosystem evolves, brands are beginning to look beyond cricket to explore emerging opportunities in sports like kabaddi, football, and athletics.
Why it matters
In a country where cricket has long monopolised sponsorship budgets, India’s broader sports marketing
landscape is reaching a pivotal moment. With changing audience behaviour, digital fandom, and the success of athletes on global platforms, brands have an opportunity to redefine how they engage with Indian sports moving from transactional sponsorships to long-term, narrative-driven partnerships that can shape both brand and sport legacies.
Takeaways
It’s 2025, and the Indian sports sponsorship landscape is still largely dominated by one sport: cricket. In fact, almost 90% of all sports revenue in the country is concentrated on it. But there is growing demand for
alternatives and the potential is undeniable. We’ve seen audience preferences shift in recent years, and alongside some new government initiatives, the call for non-cricket sports leagues has grown – and with it, new avenues for brands. While cricket spirit in India is unmatched, the next growth wave will come from brands thinking outside of traditional cricket-based models.
The new era of sports sponsorship
Expanding sports sponsorship out of cricket’s shadow is not just a diversification strategy, it’s an investment in India’s evolving sports culture. Not only have sports popular in the West made an impact in India, such as football, popular with young fans and urban audiences through the Indian Super League (ISL), but also Indian and South Asian sports, such as kabaddi. As brands compete for attention, creativity and proposition differences will be instrumental for differentiation. Those looking to capitalise on this new wave are frequently looking beyond the sports to the athletes.
Athletes as new brand vehicles
Success in international arenas such as the Olympics has turned athletes like Neeraj Chopra, Saina Nehwal
and PV Sindhu into household names, helping usher in individual sponsorship deals. For example, following his success at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has become one of the most sponsoredindividuals in India and the face of several prominent campaigns, including Samsung’s #IndiaCheersNeeraj campaign, which highlighted his sporting resilience alongside its Galaxy Z Fold6 smartphone launch.
However, brands are going beyond pure-play monetary sponsorships. Puma recently celebrated the launch of its new ambassador, PV Sindhu, with an intriguing temporary rebranding exercise that got people talking. By replacing ‘PU’ with Sindhu’s initials ‘PV’, its fresh idea in creative brand integration gained impact. And with badminton’s popularity growing, it now boasts around 57 million fans in the country, Puma’s foray into the badminton sphere is well-timed. Given the grassroots reach that Badminton holds across India, it will be interesting to see how it sustains the noise around the brand through local-level activations and more. Cricket has demonstrated the power of brand extensions, as seen with Virat Kohli’s one8 company. What started off as the cricketer’s jersey number (18) today extends into One8 premium sportwear brand, a chain of restaurants under the name ‘One8 Commune’ and footwear brand One8 Select.
Rethinking sponsorship: Infrastructure, not just logos
There are, of course, several challenges brands face in this arena, not least infrastructure. Investment must
extend beyond sponsorship logos and focus on funding improvements to the whole sporting experience. Picture an FMCG giant reallocating some of its sports marketing budget to improving in-stadium facilities, such as better seating, faster food services, and interactive fan zones. The pay-off would be better experiences and better brand connections with that sport, making your brand synonymous with the sport’s long-term growth.
What non-cricket sports can offer
This is where sports outside of cricket have been making ground and offer significant brand opportunity. The inception of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) in 2014 rapidly increased the sport’s following, bringing in a wider audience across its 11 seasons. But it’s the League’s fan-first approach, investment in regional stadiums and a pivot to digital-first fandoms that have been crucial in making kabaddi the second-most watched sport in India. The PKL and ISL have gained mass traction via Disney+, Hotstar and FanCode, which have extended viewing options beyond traditional TV.
The growth of social media and OTT platforms has also enabled brands to build deeper, more personalised connections with sports and increased fan loyalty for homegrown, non-cricket icons. The PKL and ISL have seen double-digit growth in sponsorship revenue as brands pursue new non-cricket platforms and seek first mover advantage, with higher brand recall and increased authentic audience engagement.
The rise and role of leagues
Leagues have widened sports following in India by introducing professional, structured and entertaining formats that appeal to diverse audiences – and brands. Following the success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in cricket, more than 25 leagues in different sports have emerged. The rise of leagues like ISL in football, kabaddi’s PKL, Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT), and the relaunched Hockey India League, calls for diversification in sponsorship strategies. Brands embracing these leagues are increasingly seeing value in long-term equity building through athletes, academies and infrastructure.
Indian conglomerate, JSW, has pioneered multi-sport investment, investing in cricket (Delhi Capitals) alongside strategic expansions into football, wrestling and Olympic sports. JSW’s partnership with Neeraj Chopra demonstrates long-term athlete investment and has firmly associated JSW with India’s golden boy of athletics.
The collaboration highlights how brands can shape – and grow with – an athlete’s legacy. The best strategies start from the ground up, where brands partner with academies and training programmes to
nurture young talent while building brand equity. This approach not only provides more interesting brand angles and storylines, but also a lower-cost entry point into sports sponsorship.
Fandom as the engine of sports marketing
Fandom has been critical in building the Indian sports industry. Passionate fans demand live events, experiential offerings, media content and merchandise – all crucial for boosting teams’ and leagues’ revenue. It is fan noise, both online and offline, that attracts the sponsorship, advertising and broadcasting deals necessary to make a sport financially sustainable.
India’s sports fandom is no longer just about watching matches – it’s about following athletes, engaging in communities, and being part of a movement. For brands, the strategy must shift from short-term sponsorships to long-term legacy building – the Jordan Way.
The real challenge lies in keeping fans engaged beyond the tournament. This starts by thinking of fans as more than just lovers of the sport, but as spokespeople who can convert others and will champion your messaging – be it as simple as ‘I’m a fan of the Haryana Steelers’, all year long.
Superfans are the basis of the support structure; engaging fans and connecting with team merchandise, wearing team colours, or promoting individual players is key to the sport’s growth and wider participation. In 2021, the news that Souled Store had officially partnered with Liverpool Football Club to sell merchandise was a major start and brought the club’s 96 million Indian fans closer to the UK-based team.
What brands must do next
The call is for brands to:
1. Partner, don’t just sponsor: Whether with leagues, federations or athletes – go beyond visibility and
enable real progress.
2. Invest in athletes as brands: Build long-term equity by helping athletes grow their personal brand, not
just endorsing them for a season.
3. Own the fan experience: Across infrastructure, digital and activations, brands must elevate how fans
interact with their favourite sports and stars.
4. Shape the emerging sports narrative: Cricket will always be king, but kabaddi, football, and athletics are
building strong communities. Be early, invest deeply and grow alongside the game.
India’s sports landscape is at an inflection point. Fandom is evolving, non-cricket sports are on the rise and
digital-first engagement is reshaping the game. But for brands, the real opportunity isn’t just in sponsorship – it’s in creating lasting impact by investing in athletes, communities and the fan experience. It’s time to move to true partnerships that shape narratives and actively invest in the future of sport. But growth won’t happen in isolation – it requires brands to step up as co-creators in the evolution of Indian sports. So, the real question is: are you here to place a logo, or are you here to build the game?
