Monday 1 January 2018

Why is sponsorship lacking for Motorcycle racing in India ?



World over spectator viewership for Domestic Motorcycle races are quit low . So that is not just an "India only" phenomenon .


Right now, the average number of spectators on a Sunday during the race weekend during the National Championship ,  is about 100 to 150 spectators (i have personally counted on many occasions !!!) . Some days it may go up by another 100 spectators .That is a pathetically small number . So it is very difficult for prospective sponsors to justify to their Management / Boards regarding investing in a sport with such a small return on investment .

 So basically the sport suffers because of lack of sponsorship and even worse, competitors suffer because they are unable to attract sponsors in this expensive sport .

Without fans watching the races, at the race track , corporate  sponsorship interest will be very low . So also, will be the enthusiasm by TV Broadcasters in telecasting the races . So unless more fans come to watch the races at the track ,we will not see an improvement in the sponsorship situation .

At present even if the sponsors come  , the sponsors with the larger budgets are more interested in sponsoring the racing  events which gives them more visibility  than sponsoring a team or racer.

What can be done to improve the situation ?

a) Fmsci - the Motorsport governing body in India needs to promote the sport more aggressively across India. They should advertise the sport in the general media

FMSCI needs to advertise the sport so that it attracts race fans and also to make it attractive for sponsor investment .

b) FMSCI should ensure that the race organisers who conduct the races under the FMSCI banner market the races such that sufficient number of spectators  ( at least a 1000 spectators, initially  ) come to watch the races at the track .

c) Every sport has its Stars , its because of them that the sport thrives . FMSCI and race organisers should promote the racers . People come to watch the races to watch their idols in action . Fans follow their racing heroes achievements and would like to see them in action.  FMSCI should identify a few riders as " Brand Ambassadors" and promote them as stars and give them massive media exposure . This will kick start the fans identifying  "racing heroes" and encourage fan following which will have a cascading effect, as fans identify other good riders as a racing season progresses,  over time.


d) Every race in a Championship / racing series should  be held in a different venue. i.e. no venue should be repeated. This will ensure more fans get to see the races  in different cities and thereby improving the racing fan base and also so that racers from different parts of the country take to racing.. But this can happen only if FMSCI encourages the development of more races tracks around the country .

e) The Teams and Racers themselves should develop their fan following on social media by regularly uploading their status ' and results on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , YouTube etc. They need to interact with their fans regularly and build their fan base .

They should tag, comment , like and react positively to any posting by other Racers , Organisers, FMSCI, News items  . This combined power of social media of all the racers will give the impression to the general public that this sport has a massive fan following and will encourage non-motosport fans also to start following the  racers .


f) The races must be Live Streamed on the internet along with  live telecast . The timings of the races should be advertised in the news media accordingly.

g) Spectators amenities like  toilet , food, shelter ( from sun)   etc must be made  mandatory for all races .

h) A VIP lounge area and tickets ( for team and racer sponsors) for sponsors will also make the races sponsor friendly .

i) To give the spectators a "spectacle " - A one make Stock Supersport and Superbike Championship . To reduce costs for the sponsor - the bike could be owned by the rider / team instead of being supplied by a manufacturer/ sponsor .



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