Wizcraft forays into sports marketing to compete with IMG Reliance & Nimbus Sport

MUMBAI: Leading Indian event management company Wizcraft has made its foray into the Indian sports market with the launch of Sports One.

Sports One will develop Indian talent on an international platform besides working on creating properties in order to raise the quality of sports in India.

Promoted by Wizcraft co-founders Andre Timmins, Viraf Sarkari and Sabbas Joseph along with Ashok Rajgopal, the venture will compete with agencies like IMG Reliance, Nimbus Sport and Twenty First Century Media among others.

Ashok Rajgopal, a former partner with Ernst & Young?s media and sports consulting practice, has been appointed as CEO of the new venture to spearhead the company?s efforts to break ground in the Indian sports market.

The company seeks to establish a holistic and 360 degree approach to sports marketing and the management of sports properties.

Established in 1988, sports was a natural extension for Wizcraft that has worked on sporting extravaganzas like Indian Premier League and 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

As part of its expansion plans outside India, the company had recently entered Singapore market to serve its clientele in the Asia-Pacific region. It had also set foot in Sri Lanka through a joint venture with Sri Lankan events company Event Concepts, a subsidiary company of Green Lanka Group.

The company with 300-strong headcount has a turnover of Rs 3 billion.

Wizcraft?s most recent association with sports was through World Series Hockey wherein it picked the franchise rights for the Delhi team for a period of 10 years. The company sees potential in India?s national sport and plans to build its team into a strong brand.

Wizcraft Entertainment International Director Andre Timmins said, "Having worked on some of the most sought after leagues and federations in Indian sport like the Commonwealth Games, the Indian Premier League, and World Series Hockey etc we are excited about further lending our support to the Indian sports industry at large. We have long wanted to venture into sports in a big way and Sports One is an ideal step in that direction that will specialise in the field of overall sporting excellence in India."

Sports One CEO Ashok Rajgopal said, "Today, the size of the sports marketing industry in India which is at a nascent stage is estimated to be over $1.6 billion and is expected to grow exponentially."

Besides Hockey, the newly established venture is also betting big on the ?Beautiful Game?. It has created a venture within Sports One called Football One to cater to the sport which is second to cricket in popularity.

"We are in the process of entering into strategic alliances across various sports, including our soon-to-be-announced international partnerships in football through our venture, Football One," added Rajgopal.

While there is no doubt that the Indian market with its vast youth population holds great promise, the market is still dominated by Cricket. However, other sports like Football, Hockey, Badminton and Boxing too have dedicated fan following in certain pockets.

The fact remains that monetising sports properties is a big challenge for all sports marketing agencies. A case in point is IMG Reliance?s Rs 7.5 billion investment on Indian football which is yet to yield any results. The company had bought commercial rights from All India Football Federation in 2010 for 15 years.

According to a Price Waterhouse Coopers, the business of sports will generate annual revenue of $1.89 billion by 2015 posting an average annual growth of five per cent. The size of Indian sports business would account for only 1.3 per cent of the worldwide revenues of $145.3 billion.