Kolkata: Neeraj Chopra’s throw of 87.58 meters in the men’s javelin final at the Tokyo Olympics proved a career-defining moment in his life. The 23-year-old’s popularity has surged to new heights, with many hailing him as the country’s new sports poster boy.
His success is paying off financially as well, with Neeraj’s brand endorsement earnings reportedly rising by 1000 per cent, with Virat Kohli possibly the only Indian athlete ahead of him.
Chopra, who was claimed to be earning around 15-25 lakhs per endorsement every year prior to the Tokyo Olympics, is currently in talks to sign new deals worth ten times that much. According to reports, the 10-fold increase in sponsorship value is unprecedented in Indian sports, particularly following individual events.
India skipper Kohli is currently the only sportsperson in the country who charges a price in the range of Rs 1 to 5 crores. With the increase in his endorsement fees, Neeraj is now in the same league as Kohli, though only slightly below.
This raise, on the other hand, has put him ahead of other cricketers like Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, who are said to charge between Rs 50 lakh and 1 million a year.
According to the Economic Times, Neeraj’s manager, JSW Sports, is in talks with luxury vehicle and garment firms about five or six deals that might be finalised in the next few weeks, as well as a series of digital-only deals.
Existing arrangements with Nike, Gatorade, ExxonMobil, and MuscleBlaze sports supplements, for example, are expected to be amended at higher pricing. “These are multi-year deals which will run up to the Paris Olympics,” JSW Sports CEO Mustafa Ghouse told ET.
“While we have requests from close to 80 brands, Neeraj has a limited number of free days between training camps in India and abroad over the next 12-14 months, so we have to be selective about signing on brands.”
The star athlete, on the other hand, has decided not to endorse any alcohol or tobacco companies, according to Ghouse. Chopra, who has around 600,000 Instagram followers and 4 million on Twitter, saw his Instagram following grow by over 1.1 million in a single day after winning India’s first Olympic medal in athletics.
Since the Tokyo Olympics, Chopra’s popularity has skyrocketed, and at only 23, the Indian athletic world has a lot more to look forward to from him.
