Captain cool’s brand value skyrockets

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Chennai, July 13: Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has signed a whopping Rs 200 crore endorsement deal with a talent management company, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar in the corporate contract sweepstakes.

Sangeet Shirodkar, marketing president of Rhiti Sports-Mindscapes joint venture, said that the minimum guarantee amount is Rs 210 crores for three years but depending on the number of endorsements Dhoni chose to sign, the final figure could be far higher. “The minimum is Rs 210 crores for three years which is Rs 70 crores (Rs 700 million) per year, but it can go up,” he said.

Commenting on the deal, Latika Khaneja, director of Collage Sports Management that manages Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Ashish Nehra and Ravindra Jadeja said: “More than the money, it’s a show of commitment by the firm to the player. Dhoni has more than 20 endorsements, so he already earns this much money.”

Considering his career began more than 20 years ago, Sachin is still taken to be the world’s richest cricketer with estimated earnings from the game and endorsements well in excess of Rs 500 crore.

When Sachin was first signed up by the management firm run by the late Mark Mascarenhas in 1996 for a guaranteed $6 million for five years (about Rs 27 crores then), the talk was whether Mark would be able to deliver.

Mark had the gift to foresee the changes coming into the Indian corporate world and he confessed then that he made a neat profit on the deal.

The Sachin deal represented a quantum leap for cricketers whose presence in the world of endorsements was always there — remember Dennis Compton and Bryclreem in the 1950s — but in a spasmodic and largely disorganised way.

The Dhoni deal takes the game on into the future. With the World Cup coming up, brands will see greater exposure during the game’s premier event that will be watched by a record audience in Asia and all over the world.

Dhoni endorses 24 brands now, but Shirodkar says the company is planning to trim them to 10-12.

“We want to cut down the number of endorsments and focus only on those brands that can get us a higher value.” said Shirodkar. “This will also give Dhoni more time to concentrate on cricket.”

Previously, Dhoni had a long-running deal with sports management firm Gameplan Sports Private Limited before he quit in 2008. Early this year, he filed a case against the company for allegedly cheating him of a reported Rs 10.5 crore.

As part of the new deal, official Dhoni merchandise is also being planned. The Indian market has been tepid so far as sports merchandising goes but the trend could change now with an iconic cricketer coming up with a whole new range of merchandise.

The players, made rich beyond their dreams by the Indian Premier League, are only going to get richer with a new three-year deal coming up at the auction later this year for the Indian Premier League-4 season onwards.

Dhoni’s current cricket income includes his $1.5 million a year from Chennai Super Kings.