What other sports can learn from Indian Cricket, and replicate it!
We need about a billion rupees atleast. Yes sure you need a few rupees for infrastructure, a few for nurturing young talent, a few to start academies. But the real serious buck needs to go elsewhere.
Sure, the hardcore sports buff will tell you that winning matters, and as far as cricket is concerned, it was India’s win in the 1983 Prudential World Cup that started the whole revolution in the first place and put cricket firmly on the money map. Over the years, it is the winning ways of team India that has kept it on the radar of fans and sponsors alike, but lets not forget that they have had their fair share of losses as well. So that cannot be the answer. Even when the Indian cricket team had one of its lowest ever points, the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, sponsors didn’t walk away. So what is the answer? The billion rupees need to be sunk into marketing other sports to compete with cricket. Marketed and dressed up in a way that has the sex appeal of cricket. Sex sells is one of the basic principles of advertising, but it is also a universal truth. Would even the most hardcore hockey loyalist have a poster of Dhanraj Pillay on his wall? What about Koneru Humpy or Vishy Anand for chess lovers? In truth, the sport and sportspersons need to be marketed like any product. Sport is a product. It is big business. And it is a competitive business. One that is happening with cricket at the moment.
Lets have a look at some non cricketers (male and female) who have become icons recently. You will find that 90% of them have some sort of sex appeal. Look at what Vijender has done for the image of boxing and Olympic Sports (how come we remember him more than say Sushil Kumar who also won an Olympic medal?), Sania Mirza has done for tennis, or even Lee and Hesh. Similarly Saina Nehwal for badminton (imagine if Deepika Padukone followed her Dad’s footsteps!). Look at the new generation of chess in Tania Sachdeva. Jyoti Randhawa in golf (a complete package with sizzling wife Chitrangada). Again, someone who has achieved so much but still does not inject glamour, thanks to his personality is ace shooter and Olympic Gold Medalist Abhinav Bindra. Likewise with someone like Anju Bobby George, who has all the makings of glamour but chooses to downplay it. Yes, we need to start winning in sports other than cricket, but India needs more Sainas, more Sanias, more Tanias and more Vijenders to emerge in alternate sports for them to be on par with cricket.
We need about a billion rupees atleast. Yes sure you need a few rupees for infrastructure, a few for nurturing young talent, a few to start academies. But the real serious buck needs to go elsewhere.
Sure, the hardcore sports buff will tell you that winning matters, and as far as cricket is concerned, it was India’s win in the 1983 Prudential World Cup that started the whole revolution in the first place and put cricket firmly on the money map. Over the years, it is the winning ways of team India that has kept it on the radar of fans and sponsors alike, but lets not forget that they have had their fair share of losses as well. So that cannot be the answer. Even when the Indian cricket team had one of its lowest ever points, the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, sponsors didn’t walk away. So what is the answer? The billion rupees need to be sunk into marketing other sports to compete with cricket. Marketed and dressed up in a way that has the sex appeal of cricket. Sex sells is one of the basic principles of advertising, but it is also a universal truth. Would even the most hardcore hockey loyalist have a poster of Dhanraj Pillay on his wall? What about Koneru Humpy or Vishy Anand for chess lovers? In truth, the sport and sportspersons need to be marketed like any product. Sport is a product. It is big business. And it is a competitive business. One that is happening with cricket at the moment.
Lets have a look at some non cricketers (male and female) who have become icons recently. You will find that 90% of them have some sort of sex appeal. Look at what Vijender has done for the image of boxing and Olympic Sports (how come we remember him more than say Sushil Kumar who also won an Olympic medal?), Sania Mirza has done for tennis, or even Lee and Hesh. Similarly Saina Nehwal for badminton (imagine if Deepika Padukone followed her Dad’s footsteps!). Look at the new generation of chess in Tania Sachdeva. Jyoti Randhawa in golf (a complete package with sizzling wife Chitrangada). Again, someone who has achieved so much but still does not inject glamour, thanks to his personality is ace shooter and Olympic Gold Medalist Abhinav Bindra. Likewise with someone like Anju Bobby George, who has all the makings of glamour but chooses to downplay it. Yes, we need to start winning in sports other than cricket, but India needs more Sainas, more Sanias, more Tanias and more Vijenders to emerge in alternate sports for them to be on par with cricket.
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