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The organizers of the Wimbledon Tennis Championship are targeting India for development due to the country’s strong cultural relations and its large number of sports fans for Britain.
All England Lawn Tennis Club Chief Executive Sally Bolton told Financial Times that India The oldest Grand Slam of the game joined the US as a main focus to increase the audience of the tournament, which begins later this month.
AELTC is searching for both “both physical and digital” to expand the access to Wimbledon in India, including a possible staging exhibition in the country with the characteristics of famous cricketers.
“India is the place where [we see] Bolton said, “A huge opportunity sitting there.” We see the historical relations between the UK and India and providing a foundation between the two countries between those some cultural relations. ,
Wimbledon The Indian audience is broadcast on Star Sports and will be strengthened on Geohotstar, which was built through the merger of the Ambani family’s Reliance Media Business and Disney’s Indian operations six months ago.
it is 280mn collected Subscribers, roughly with their broadcast deal with the Indian Premier League, highly successful cricket tournament.
AELTC hopes that it can generate higher revenue from media rights and sponsorship in the country by increasing the audience for Wimbledon in India.
“If you are continuing to increase the quality and depth of your engagement with your audience and audience, everything else flows in the brand, the scale of your organization, the context of commercial opportunities,” Bolton said.
Last year, two Indian cricket legends – Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma – posted pictures on social media, while courtside in Wimbledon. Compared to Wimbledon’s 6mn, the pair has a combined Instagram after 95MN. Bolton said that in these moments there was a “heavy cut-throat”.
“a lot of [interest] Cricket focuses on, but people in India are extremely emotional about their game. ,
AELTC, which distributes 90 percent of its profits to the Sports Governing Body Lawn Tennis Association in the UK, increased its revenue by 7 percent to £ 407MN last year from Wimbledon. It handed over £ 50mn to LTA.
The organization is one of many sports bodies to make a presence in India.
In April, the English Premier League opened its first office in Mumbai and WWE promised to stage a “premium event” in the country in the next two years. Olympic organizers have added cricket in the roster for the Los Angeles Games in 2028 to promote their attraction to the Indian audience.
Adam Kelly, president of Sports Marketing Agency IMG, said that sports rights holders had historically found India a challenging market due to the dominance of cricket. But the current media scenario is taking membership of streaming platforms with hundreds of crores of Indians, making it easier to reach consumers.
“The middle class in India is large as a population of other major areas,” he said. “If you can also attach the population to a fraction of the degree for which they are engaged in cricket, then you have really found something meaningful.,
Wimbledon has been insisting on developing its audience in the US in recent years. This year “The Hill” will return to the coast of the East River in New York, where the men and women’s finals will be shown as part of a mini-festival characterized by British pop star Rita Ora on the big screen.
With the development of international audiences, Bolton expects a significant increase in revenue from the goods sold online to fans abroad. Wimbledon brought his retail operations almost a decade ago and designed his long-running partnership with American fashion house Ralph Lauren as well as his limits of apparel, housewives and souvenirs, producing a series of premium Wimbledon clothing.
Bolton said that online sales, which increased by 15 percent last year, still “what we think is possible in the foothills”.
“This is not just an event merchandise. It is not really just a retail. It is a lifestyle brand and the idea of ​​everything that comes with it,, He said,
The prize money for two Wimbledon single champions, which has increased from £ 300,000 to £ 3mn this year, is the highest in any Grand Slam.
However, the stadiums used in Wimbledon are smaller than those in the other three Grand Slam events: the US Open, French Open and Australian Open, where the appearance is more than doubled from Wimbledon.
In an attempt to reduce that difference, AELTC is planning a plan Expansion In the club ground, which will add a new 8,000-seater stadium and dozens of new grass courts. However, the schemes have faced local opposition.
