Sponsorships bagged by sporting events and personalities more than doubled to Rs 5,907 crore in 2022, but cricket continues to corner a bulk of the money, a report said on Tuesday. Sports celebrities pocketed Rs 729 crore in 2022, which was a 20 per cent growth over the previous year, the report by media agency Groupm said, adding that Virat Kohli, M S Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Neeraj Chopra, and PV Sindhu are among the highest billing sportspersons.

The overall spends on sports were pegged at Rs 14,000 crore by the agency, as against Rs 9,500 crore in the year-ago period.

A report ‘Sporting Nation 2023’ highlighted “the unprecedented growth of sports sponsorship in India, with spends on-ground, team, and franchise rising by Rs 3,021 crore, a whopping 105 per cent growth from 2021, making the total sponsorship spends Rs 5,907 crore”.

It attributed the rise in overall spends in 2022 to a jump in the number of IPL matches, addition of two new teams in the popular cricketing league, the ICC T20 World Cup, Asia Cup, FIFA World Cup, and the return of emerging sports events and tournaments like PKL, marquee marathons, Maharashtra Open, and Commonwealth Games 2022.

Without mentioning the time period, a press statement from Groupm said the sporting spends have grown at a compounding annual growth rate of 14 per cent, making it one of the better performing sectors of the economy.

The renewal of IPL sponsorships post the 2023 season, BCCI home series title and central sponsorship along with team India sponsorship, BCCI home series media rights, and the inaugural season of WPL in March 2023 will be the tipping point for Indian cricket, the report said.

Cricket has cornered 85 per cent of the sponsorship spends, while emerging sports like football, kabaddi and marathon have had to contend with 15 per cent, the report said, adding that there has been a massive upsurge in sponsorships in the emerging sports. The growth of cricket sponsorship has been made possible by the Indian cricket team playing almost double the number of matches and IPL two new franchises — Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants — and a full house of central sponsorship.

“Despite facing unprecedented pandemic challenges, the exceptional performance of the sports industry in 2022 reflects its resilience and unwavering commitment,” the agency’s chief executive for South Asia, Prasanth Kumar, said.

On the celebrity endorsement front, it said cricketers’ endorsement has grown by 18 per cent. Virat Kohli, M S Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma are endorsing over 30 brands each, and added new brands in 2022 as well. Others such as Hardik Pandya, Jaspreet Bumrah, KL Rahul, and Surya Kumar Yadav are also scoring big in the endorsement space.