Indian sports economy is entering a decade-defining transformation one where brands must make a strategic choice about how to allocate capital across two diverging but equally compelling ecosystems.
On one side stand the Olympic-aligned legacy sports such as football, hockey, tennis, wrestling and athletics. On the other side are fast-growing recreational and indigenous movements pickleball courts mushrooming across the country, new-age leagues in arm-wrestling, kho-kho, chess and community-driven futsal facilities.
This dichotomy is not just commercial. It reflects a deeper question: where should a brand place its long-term bets in a market where cricket continues to command 76–85% of sponsorship spend and 94% of media ad expenditure?
The old formulas for sports ROI short-term profitability, ticketing revenue or EBITDA margins simply no longer apply. For non-cricket properties to deliver meaningful returns, brands must think in terms of cultural equity, strategic visibility and ecosystem contribution.
The Indian sports market, valued at roughly ₹40,000 crore and growing annually at more than 12%, is at a historic pivot. Digital consumption is driving this shift: OTT-driven sports advertising grew 25% in 2024, reaching ₹3,588 crore. Younger audiences, fragmented attention spans, and second-screen behaviour mean that sports properties are no longer only about television reach they are multimedia storytelling platforms.
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Legacy sports deliver cultural depth and global alignment; emerging sports deliver exclusivity and early-mover advantage. The smartest sponsors are no longer choosing one they are creating hybrid portfolios that balance mass reach with long-term relevance.
Legacy Sports: High Risk, High International Value
Legacy sports remain the most potent avenues for global brand projection. They sit at the intersection of tradition, national pride and government-backed performance pathways. Whether through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), Khelo India, or national federations, the central government has invested heavily in disciplines like athletics, hockey and wrestling allocating more than ₹470 crore for India’s Paris 2024 preparation alone. When brands align with these sports, they are effectively tying themselves to national ambition.
In commercial terms, kabaddi stands tallest. The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is India’s most successful non-cricket league, drawing 225 million viewers in Season 10 and more than 200 million in Season 11. Its multi-language broadcast model and deep roots in Tier 2 and Tier 3 India make PKL indispensable for FMCG and retail brands seeking broad reach without the prohibitive pricing of cricket.
Football’s Indian Super League (ISL) offers a different proposition: urban, youthful, internationally connected audiences. With a market size exceeding ₹1,200 crore and strong corporate involvement, the ISL appears mature on paper. But its viewership dip from 400 million in Season 1 to about 130 million in recent years highlights structural weaknesses. The league succeeded in spectacle but struggled with continuity, community and club identity. Investment here is a long-term play: brands must help rebuild the ecosystem through youth development, infrastructure and technical pathways rather than only advertising spends.
In hockey, the commercial problem is sharper. Despite multiple Olympic triumphs, India’s inability to run a financially stable domestic league since the suspension of the Hockey India League in 2017 underscores the gap between on-field excellence and commercial viability.
Wrestling is undergoing a revival through the Pro Wrestling League, aiming to modernise the traditional “kushti” ethos into a global entertainment property. Athletics, meanwhile, has quietly become the most commercially promising non-cricket sport—its ₹2,100 crore market potential buoyed by India’s medal momentum and the nationwide boom in marathons and endurance culture.
Legacy sports offer high ceilings but they demand patience, structural reform and capital investment that goes beyond logo placement.
Emerging Recreational Sports: High Exclusivity, Rapid Growth
On the opposite end of the spectrum lies a renaissance of emerging sports driven by lifestyle shifts, accessible infrastructure, and community-first participation. Pickleball is the clearest example. India’s pickleball court count grew from 200 to more than 1,200 by mid-2024 a six-fold expansion powered largely by private entrepreneurs, families and schools. Infrastructure is rising even faster than institutional structures. This bottom-up momentum received a decisive boost when the Indian Pickleball Association secured official government recognition, opening pathways for Khelo India integration and eventual professional leagues.
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For brands, emerging sports offer something legacy sports cannot: exclusivity. In a less cluttered environment, a brand can own the narrative, influence culture, and achieve a high Share of Voice at a fraction of cricket’s cost. Leagues like Ultimate Kho-Kho, the Pro Panja League, and the Global Chess League may still be small, but they possess strong digital communities and youthful identities. These properties are ideal for brands seeking authenticity and innovation rather than volume.
Yet these sports lack global competitive structures. For brands seeking international visibility, emerging sports cannot replace legacy disciplines they can only complement them.
India’s sporting future hinges on something more fundamental than leagues or sponsorships: infrastructure. Whether it is footballers training on non-certified grounds or athletes lacking world-standard tracks, India’s talent pipeline is often constrained by infrastructure quality rather than player ability. With the government preparing for long-term ambitions like a potential 2036 Olympic bid, upgrading India’s grassroots and high-performance infrastructure is non-negotiable.
This is where brands can gain the most cultural equity.
When sponsors fund courts, tracks, turfs, academies, or athlete scholarships not just research they shift from passive visibility to active nation-building. Brands that embed themselves into the ecosystem like Infosys in global tennis or Reliance in football and Olympic pathways achieve permanence that advertising alone can never match.
The Path Forward: Build a Balanced, Purpose-Driven Portfolio
The next decade of Indian sports investment will favour brands that follow a blended, multi-objective strategy:
- Use PKL and ISL for broad visibility and demographic targeting.
- Use tennis, athletics and Olympic sports for premium positioning and global identity.
- Use emerging sports for exclusivity, authenticity and grassroots community building.
- Invest in infrastructure and pathways to secure cultural relevance and future-proof the brand.
India’s sports landscape is not a battlefield to be conquered. It is an ecosystem to be nurtured.
Brands that understand this shift from visibility to contribution, from marketing to long-term capital will define the future of Indian sport and their own cultural legacy in the process.
