How Indian men's hockey players' earnings could rise 30% post-Olympic triumph

Neeraj Chopra is not the only Indian athlete who has sharply seen his brand value rise since his second consecutive Olympic medal. The Indian men’s hockey team, who won a second successive Summer Games medal in Paris, are also set for massive windfall as brands chase their signatures with social media following going through the roof.

Hockey has been India’s most successful sport at the Olympics, fetching 13 medals including eight golds. However, a 41-year medal drought had pushed the sport to its lowest before India bounced back with a memorable bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. With a second consecutive bronze medal at Paris 2024, the Indian men’s hockey team has proved they are on a path of sustained success.

As a result, massive endorsements have begun, as brands seek to capitalise on the popularity of the medal winners. Market experts say there has been a significant growth in demand for medal-winning hockey players.

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“India is a very last-minute market. So we have been trying to reach brands from before the Paris Games but at that time there was very little response. Since the Olympics ended, there have been a lot of queries in some specific categories like sports and nutrition, beverage, skincare, and fintech categories,” Abhishek Sharma, MD of Athletes Today Sports Management company which represents players like Amit Rohidas, Lalit Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, and Raj Kumar Pal, told Firstpost.

“We are still in the process of closing down deals as players have only recently come down (from Paris) and have been busy with events and felicitation programmes. But if I have to quantify things then the demand for the players has gone up from 25% to 100%.

“Brands are now taking hockey very seriously. Hockey is doing well in India and the league is to start soon, so the upcoming pathway looks very positive and this is what the players deserve.”

The rise in attention following the Olympic medal win has also benefitted Alfa Hockey, one of the biggest hockey stick manufacturers from Jalandhar, which sponsors 10 players in the men’s team including PR Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh.

Jitin Mahajan, owner of Alfa Hockey, revealed that his company is expecting a 50% rise in sales during the July-September quarter as compared to the last.

“I have started getting multiple inquiries from distributors, shopkeepers, and parents who want their children to play hockey, even from major cities like Mumbai,” Mahajan said. “I am getting these calls every day. I would say that the bronze medal win has massively boosted the popularity of the sport in the country.

“We are expecting a 50% rise in our sales from the last quarter in the ongoing quarter just because India won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics 2024. This rise is good not only for me but for hockey overall. We ran a ‘#BankeDikhaAlpha’ campaign before the Paris Olympics to inspire the hockey community and I am glad 10 players who use Alfa Hockey sticks and are part of the team have come back with a medal.”

Coming back to the players.

Traditional advertising contracts are not the only channel expected to boost their income. The rising popularity of hockey team players has led to an “average 40%” increase in their following on social media platforms.

“The players’ social media handles have shot up by 40-50% and I am talking about all players. Some legends like PR Sreejesh, his profiles have shot up through the roofs, but across the team, for all players, the rise has been on average 40% on social media.”

This opens the gateway for hockey players to enter the sports influencer category. With their strong social media following, they can secure short or long-term social media-only contracts with brands. These advertisements may not appear on television or OTT platforms, but they help increase a brand’s footprint among social media users and ultimately boost income.

“The sports influencer category is something that has boomed over the last few years with the rise of social media. The request for such collaborations is also being sought. We are very selective about the brands we pick but the demand is very high and how it has helped is that the players have a new avenue to earn money,” Sharma informed.

“For Lalit, we did a deal with Tata Motors last year to promote EV cars and this worked out really well, especially in UP region. With Mandeep, we did a deal with Dabur Chyawanprash.”

If estimates are to be believed, a hockey player who was part of the bronze medal-winning side in Paris could see their annual income increase by around 30-35% through sports influencer work.

“Social media contributed to a rise of 10% in their annual income after the Tokyo 2020 Games and now we expect a 30-35% rise after the second consecutive medal win. We also have to understand that brand segmentation and approach have also changed. Brands now don’t always look pan India, they also try to target specific regions and players play a big role for them,” Sharma said.

It is also felt that the demand for hockey players will be more sustainable this time unlike after the Tokyo Olympics when the enthusiasm died after six months or a year because two back-to-back medals have highlighted that the men’s hockey team could go on to win more big tournaments.