Pearl Infrastructure Become Title Sponsor of Kabaddi World Cup 2011

Indian Company Pearls Infrastructure Group has become the title sponsor of the Kabaddi World Cup 2011 reportedly paying $1.73 million with still positions needed to be filled for associate sponsor and co-sponsor.

A government official inside the Indian Ministry of Sports, said: “Of that, $1.73 million, or nearly half, has been covered by Pearls. Let us see how much we can rake in from the other slots of associate sponsor and co-sponsors, plus the broadcast partner deal.

“It has been decided to go for tendering the slots. So far, the slots for title sponsor, associate sponsor, co-sponsor and broadcast partner have been put up for bidding, but more or less, the Pearls Group, which had taken the title sponsorship last year, has secured the title sponsorship for $1.73 million.”

The group had taken the title sponsor last year for $325,000.

Last year, Punjab local channel PTC had got the broadcast partnership deal for $58,000. Originally, that had been due to political pressure, as the channel is controlled by the ruling Akali Dal.

When it had been forced to take the deal, the channel did not know how to work the deal. But in the end, it made millions, selling households in places like Canada and the US for a whopping $45 for each match, since the Indian (read Punjabi) population in those countries are crazy about Kabaddi.

The state government had decided to get a national-level broadcaster for taking the show during this edition, but due to governmental norms and rules, it has had to put the deal up for public tendering. “We could have made much better money had we gone for proper marketing, but that is difficult due to babudom interference,” the source lamented.

“Whichever channel pays the most will get the award,” the official said.

Meanwhile, it is known that apart from the slots put up for tendering, many other sponsors have already flocked in with smaller amounts of contributions.

The official continued: “The government is committed to fill up the balance between the expenses and the amount raised through commercial activity.”