When it comes to sports, India loves only cricket and hence corporates love it too. The advertising, sponsorships and endorsements are all cornered by the Cricketers and Cricket.
It's time to think differently. I was recently reading that Britain feels cost of medals are too expensive at the Olympics. So how can India ever hope to get into the big league when it comes to sports medals?
The simple answer is : corporatise sports
The corporates have the money to invest but they currently don' t see the ROI in games other than cricket. So they shy away from investing.
However, since government has made it compulsory to invest 2% of PAT in CSR, this money could be invested in developing sports infrastructure that can help in identifying and supporting talent that can win internationally in sports. The government could sell rights of sports and let highest bidders get exclusive rights to develop and market these sports....
The corporates should take interest in these auctions and support more than just money. Why?
Since the 2% CSR money can now be invested in brand building. Since the corporates will have exclusive rights to these sports and players, when big results come, they will get affordable brand endorsers and also the rights to market these sport celebrities. So they save on hefty brand endorsement budgets and also earn royalties by marketing these sportspersonalities.
With cost of celebrity endorsers touching the sky, corporates should embrace this wholeheartedly. The government should support the process as it will help in channelising the funds collected from CSR and also earn goodwill of people if the nation wins more medals internationally.
It's a perfect win-win for all stakeholders involved and it could be the first step towards building a robust system that produces sports champions on a sustainable basis and create a pipeline of sportsstars.
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