Screwvala eyes more non-cricket sports for U Mumba, but will brands bite?

According to experts, the target audience for these sports is pretty varied, and hence the same advertiser may not want to advertise on all the sports

In a country that has always prayed at the altar of cricket, advertisers have rarely looked at any other sport whenever they have sought an audience with consumers. However, the emergence of and growing interest (albeit miniscule when compared to cricket) among brands in alternative sports is encouraging Ronnie Screwvala and his team at U Sports to extend the U Mumba brand from kabaddi to football and volleyball and eventually to all non-cricket sports.

The expectation: brands targeting the Mumbai-born or resident young millennial demographic will come on board. But sports management consultants and brand experts point out, there is