1.6 seconds and a piece of metal made of copper, tin and zinc worth 350 rupees is all it took Manu Bhaker to turn 20 lacs into 1.25 crores. And then in 24-hours she did it again.
Soon, she didn’t need the metal any more. Every time the phone rang in her agent’s office, the price of a Manu Bhaker smile went up. Every brand that sought to associate with her would now have to shell out north of a crore for a year. And they lined up to sign on the dotted line. Thumps Up, a cola drink that emerged from a nationalisation effort driving Coca Cola out of the country, and now ironically owned by the same company it once displaced, reportedly shelled out 1.5 crores. By winning a bronze, then two, Manu had struck gold.
India is a nation that is used to reading about the crores that a M.S. Dhoni or Virat Kohli earns from a single advertisement. It would therefore come as no surprise to a sports success starved nation, that an Olympic medal, even if it is a bronze (or two in this case) would bring about a six fold increase in brand value. But while it may look normal to most, is it really a given?
Would the endorsement values have multiplied as much if a Deepika Kumari had achieved what Manu has? If not, why do brands pay what they do for certain elite athletes? And as intriguingly, why did the brands decide to up their spend six times for an Olympic bronze medal?
The answers to these questions lie outside the stadiums and in the boardrooms of the brands that shell out the big bucks.
Sports Sponsorship is a Gigantic Market
There are few sponsorship opportunities for brands as lucrative as those offered by professional sports. In 2023 an estimate by Statista put the global sport sponsorship market at a staggering US$ 97.35 billion, and on track to grow to US$ 190 billion by 2030. Unsurprisingly, American sports the report found, led by American Football, attracted the most money followed by European football.
Closer home, notwithstanding the fact that the Indian Premier League in 2024 had an estimated brand value of $16.4 billion, the league’s annual sponsorship value of $100 million, paled in comparison to other more established global leagues like the NFL and EPL.
But where this story gets more interesting is when we deep dive into how sponsors view individual sports persons as brand value enhancers.
A year ago when figures were last compiled, 505 brand endorsement deals had been signed with sports persons in India adding up to 927 crores. 381 of these were with cricketers. 85% of the value of these endorsements, or 788 crores was paid to just three cricketers - MS Dhoni (who this March was signed by Cleartrip for six crores a year), Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. But if we take away these outliers, what this means is that 15% of all individual endorsement value paid to sportspersons was divided among 502 athletes, averaging 1.85 crores each.
But even that does not provide the full picture. While it is true that 25% of all sports persons who received endorsements were not cricketers, their actual wallet share was only 12.5%. i.e., 124 sports persons received 116 crores between them. Even those numbers, however, deserve a caveat. One man, Neeraj Chopra, stands apart from all other athletes in the endorsements he attracts. While actual endorsement numbers for Chopra are not readily available, a recent estimate by Kroll puts his post-Olympics brand value at a staggering 330 crores.
But while Neeraj Chopra and Manu Bhaker may be the alchemists who turned silver and bronze into gold, but the real jewel in India’s crown is an unlikely winner. Vinesh Phogat’s resolve of steel in fighting against injustice on the streets of Delhi and the defeat of the greatest wrestler of our times in her weight category, ensured that the unfair denial of a round piece of metal put her on a moral podium higher than any the Olympics could provide. And so impactful is the story of her resilience, that Phogat finds herself being offered endorsements at par with Bhaker. As far as endorsements are concerned, the two women are clearly following in Chopra’s giant footsteps.
Having established the what, a deep dive into the why and how of these sponsorships is perhaps warranted, for it might just answer some of the questions raised at the start.
Why do Companies spend on Endorsements by Sports persons?
There are three major reasons why companies spend crores on endorsements:
Building Brand Awareness is a very big push for endorsements. Brands can capitalise on an athlete’s positive public image by having the athlete endorse a product which aligns with the image and values of the company.’ This is why MS Dhoni is paid six crores by Cleartrip and also why Manu Bhaker can now demand a crore and more per firm. They both have a positive public image, and the brands seek to project themselves positively with the association. This is also exactly why 17-year old Maria Sharapova became the highest paid female athlete of her time in terms of brand endorsement, the week after she won her first Wimbledon title.
Validating Product Features is a very interesting driver for endorsements. Indian cricket fans of a certain generation will remember Kapil Dev, with his indefatigable energy on the field, endorsing Boost as ‘the secret of my energy’. Swimming great Michael Phelps endorsing PureSport protein recovery drinks because it allowed him to ‘push his body to the max everyday’ and because it was ‘the only thing that he knows which works,’ is another. Brands figure that consumers looking to achieve the results that their favourite athletes do will be more driven to consuming those endorsed products. And they have been consistently proved right.
Boosting Brand Equity is the third and perhaps the most important reason, athlete endorsement has become such a significant business. In 2012 basketball player LeBron James earned $15 million from Nike, but Nike sold over $100 million worth of James’ signature shoe just in the U.S. alone. Without an iota of doubt, Thumps Up’s sales in 2025 with Manu Bhaker’s face and voice will generate sales that are a significant multiple more than the 1.5 crores that they are paying her.
Endorsements Foretell the Future of Indian Sports
The Olympics is the greatest sports competition on earth. There is nothing quite as global, not even the FIFA World Cup. Little surprise therefore that for the Indian athletes, brands are throwing open the cash box like never before.
As the dust settles on Paris, Indian fans are justifiably bemoaning the fact that six medals is a grossly inadequate recompense for the investment that went into this Olympic campaign. A lot of tough questions undoubtedly need to be asked of both athletes and administrators and steps taken to ensure that LA 2028 is a true game changer for Indian sport. But even among the clouds of disappointment, the silver lining is the significant pickup in endorsement values of non-cricketers, often at par, and sometimes in excess of the amounts paid to the more fancied cricketers. It is a reflection of the fact India is emerging from its single minded obsession with cricket, spreading its love and opening its wallet to Olympic sports.
Neeraj Chopra, Manu Bhaker and Vinesh Phogat may not turn the tide on their own, but their success may well have thrown open the financial floodgates that in the years to come will help lift Indian sport to its rightful place in the global arena.
One day in the not too distant future, 1.5 billion Indians may witness live streams of multiple tricolours going up across Olympic venues and the national anthem playing with stereophonic effect. On that day, as the shower of endorsements turns into a variable storm, the nation would do well to remember three young athletes from Haryana, who decisively, and permanently, breaking all physical, mental and equally importantly - financial barriers on their path, helped put India on the global sports map.
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