Cricket, COVID-19 fail to dampen brands’ enthusiasm for Indian Super League

Started in 2014, the Indian Super League (ISL) has steadily been making significant inroads into a cricket-dominant market and has carved a place for itself in viewers’ as well as brands’ annual calendar. Organised by All India Football Federation and their commercial partners Football Sports Development Limited, in its 8^th year, the tournament will be held in stadiums sans spectators due to the COVID-19 situation, at least in the first half of the tournament.

Hero MotoCorp continues as the title sponsor of ISL. Official sponsors for the 2021-22 edition are Apollo Tyres, BYJU’S, Pari Match News and Nivia. Dream11 has come on board as the official fantasy football partner, Terra Virtua is the official digital collectibles partner, while The Arena is the official merchandise partner. The League is co-promoted by Reliance, Star India and supported by the All-India Football Federation (AIFF).

Star Sports are the official broadcasters of the Indian Super League, with the matches being telecast live across all Star Sports network channels, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bangla channels. The matches will also be live streamed on Disney+ Hotstar.

India’s leading industrialists and celebrities from sports as well as the Indian film industry have heavily invested in the league’s 11 franchises based in the following cities: Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Jamshedpur. The mission is to revolutionise the sport, the Hero ISL is positioned as a high quality and dynamic league that will elevate Indian football to an international level. Besides that, the organisers also want to popularise the game more and encourage in a big way in smaller towns and spot talent to compete in more international tournaments.

Fitbit and Team Chennainyan have announced their partnership for the 4^th consecutive year. Fitbit will be the official wellness partner. According the spokesperson from Fitbit, they have the right synergy with the ISL and it is a perfect fit for the brand to leverage and continue supporting the great game of football. Mumbai City FC has announced a new global partnership with Expo 2020 Dubai for the 2021-22 season. Through this partnership, Mumbai City will be able to harness knowledge from initiatives to expand on its values of innovation, sustainability and driving social change through football. DafaNews has partnered with Hyderabad FC and would like to grow their portfolio of partners.

Nippon Paint has announced its association with Chennaiyan FC for its 5^th consecutive year. Mahesh S Anand, President, Decorative Paint, Nippon India, said, “Our faith in Chennaiyan FC continues and that’s what for everyone to see through our continuous association.”

Bharat Sethi, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Rage Coffee, said, “Our brand stands for all the passionate, exciting, and emotional moments that football creates. In fact, it is the perfect time for us to be associated with the beautiful game.”

Somit Biswas, CoFounder, SPORTSCOMM, who passionately follows football, added here, “Football is one sport whose popularity has only grown over centuries. Perhaps because it is the most simple and accessible sport. Therefore, I feel the popularity of the ISL will only grow with the years. Especially now, because it is so well marketed. Given the popularity of football globally as well as its ever-rising popularity in the country, there is no reason why the ISL should not have its best season till date.”

He further said, “Spectators may not be allowed in the stadiums for this edition, at least as per information received till now. It does take away a lot from the game, as the best players only come to the fore with fans on the stands. This would also lead to TV or viewership on other digital platforms to break new records for sure.”