Private capital continues to flow into India’s sports industry despite challenges around monetisation and media rights with investors increasingly looking beyond cricket to build the next set of sporting properties, industry executives said.

Recent moves by Capri Sports, JKC Sports and NODWIN point to growing interest in women’s sport, emerging leagues, participation-led properties and sporting communities.

The bets come even when cricket dominates the economics of Indian sport, making it harder for other sports to build commercially sustainable ecosystems.

Cricket remains India’s most popular and richest sport, led by the Indian Premier League (IPL). While several non-cricket league experiments have been underwhelming, the Pro Kabaddi League has shown that a sustainable property can be built outside cricket.

Streaming is also lowering the entry barrier. Sports properties can reach audiences without relying entirely on traditional television, allowing companies to target and build communities around individual sports.

NODWIN Gaming, with interests in gaming, esports and live events, has entered mainstream sports with NODWIN Sports, led by Gurbaksh Singh Virdi as vice-president.

Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director, NODWIN Gaming, said the company wants to build a youth media company spanning gaming, esports, music, pop culture, live entertainment and sport.

“We want to build sporting properties and communities that can stand on their own, while also benefiting from NODWIN’s existing capabilities across content, live experiences, production, partnerships and youth engagement,” he said.

Rathee sees opportunities beyond cricket in running and participative sports, football, women’s cricket, chess and mixed martial arts. Virdi said the shift from passive viewing to active participation was creating opportunities to build wider ecosystems around sporting IPs.

Capri Sports, which owns teams in the Pro Kabaddi League, Women’s Premier League and International League T20, is betting on women’s sport. It recently signed a 15-year commercial deal with the All India Football Federation to build and commercialise women’s football in India.

Capri Sports director Jinisha Sharma said women’s sports need investment to build them from the ground up before becoming commercially successful. Participation among women, she said, is rising across cricket, football, racquet sports, basketball, paddle and pickleball.

“There’s a lot of appetite that Indian corporates have for sports,” Sharma said, adding that investments would continue as sports is seen as a sunrise sector.

JK Organisation has launched JKC Sports with plans to invest up to Rs 150 crore over five years. It is exploring opportunities across eight to 10 disciplines, including cricket, bridge, squash, shooting, swimming, badminton, wrestling and powerlifting.

JKC Sports co-founder Madhavkrishna Singhania said the group sees value to be created, particularly outside cricket, including through athlete development and the wider sporting ecosystem.

JioStar Sports CEO Ishan Chatterjee recently said that streaming has changed the economics of sports properties, which no longer necessarily need to meet traditional television audience or rating thresholds. He does not expect a single sport to emerge as India’s clear second sport, but multiple sports to build their own fan bases.

The opportunity comes as India’s sports economy crossed $2 billion. WPP Media’s Sporting Nation report puts the 2025 market at Rs 18,864 crore, up 13.4% from Rs 16,633 crore in 2024.

Yet cricket accounted for 89% of revenues, generating Rs 16,704 crore and sucking in 95% of media spending. The numbers underline the scale of the opportunity beyond cricket and the commercial challenge of converting growing fan interest into sustainable sporting businesses.