New Delhi: Viacom 18, part of Reliance Industries Ltd. by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has partnered with sports venture Sports For All (SFA) to broadcast school-level sports competitions on television and digital platforms. The SFA Championships will be available on Jio Cinema, Sports 18 – 2, and Sports 18 Khel from December 3, making grassroots sports widely accessible in India.
“We strive to continue to highlight school-level talent by including SFA Championships in our portfolio,” Siddharth Sharma, head of content, television and digital, Viacom 18 Sports, said in a statement.
The SFA Championships aim to provide a platform for young athletes, with an ambitious plan to hold 150 championships in 50 cities over the next five years. The SFA’s immediate goal is to employ 200,000 athletes in 10 championships within four months for the 2023-24 season.
“…The SFA Championships entails an international sporting experience through fair access to world-class infrastructure, match videos, analysis and insights for school athletes. Each episode will showcase the energy and sporting talent of that city, their trials and tribulations and how each athlete contributes to identification of the “number one school in sports”, for their city, “Vishwas Choksi and Rishikesh Joshi, founders, said in a statement.
For the 23–24 season, the championships will be held in cities such as Indore, Jaipur, Dehradun, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Nagpur, Delhi, and Ahmedabad. This collaboration furthers SFA’s mission to democratize sports access at the school level.
SFA also holds the title of “official partner” to the Indian Olympic Association and “official sponsor” for the Khelo India Youth Games for the next five years.
Earlier this month, SFA expanded its international footprint through a partnership with Playfly Sports, an American sports media, marketing and technology company. Playfly will engage corporate sponsors to support the SFA Championships, drawing on its experience with multimedia rights and sponsorships in US high school sports. This tie-up aims to enhance SFA’s sponsorship platform and create new revenue channels, building on its network of over 5,000 schools across India.
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Updated: 23 Nov 2023, 14:15 IST