Finding sponsors will be a challenge

are many reasons why hosting the T20 World Cup amid the pandemic could be a fraught affair.

The biggest concern is, of course the players—even if one member gets infected, a team will be knocked out as all players will have to go into quarantine. But even if played in a bio-secure environment, are there takers for the tournament? Are corporate houses in a position to buy ad space? These will be big factors too when the ICC board meets on Thursday to decide whether it can hold the event in Oct-nov.

“Compared to any other genre, sports delivers disproportionately. Most sponsors will make a lot more active choices when it comes to sport, versus spending their money anywhere else,” Anil Jayaraj, EVP Sales, Star Sports said in a recent webinar. “If I am short of budget, I am more likely to invest in places where I am rather sure that my money will give me bang for the buck.”

Brand guru Harish Bijoor, who runs an eponymous consulting firm, though feels it will be tough to attract sponsors.

“The key problem is the sponsor because the sponsors are from the real economy,” Bijoor said. “And the real economy is in very bad shape. Many companies will write-off sales value for three months, for sure. As all this happens, the year for our corporate entity is not likely to be 12 months of sales, but nine.”

Even though the World Cup is an ICC event, and the venue is Australia, the main sponsors are likely to come from the Indian market. “Cricket doesn’t get in-bound revenue from foreign companies,” Bijoor said.

“Indian companies advertise on foreign cricket because of the diaspora watching it…we don’t get in-bound money, instead our money goes out.”

During last year’s World Cup, official broadcaster Star Sports had signed over 40 advertisers, a majority of them were Indian.

“Normally, you have six to eight major sponsors. Will you get that many sponsors in October or will you settle for fewer? The 20-over match rates are anyways higher than 50-over because there is less inventory, said Shailesh Kapoor, CEO Omrax Media, a media consulting firm. “What will happen is probably from 100 per cent ad spots being sold, 60-70 per cent may be sold as channels won’t like to bring down rates on a premium event.”