Cricket Tournament Sponsorship: How to Find Sponsors

The easiest cricket tournament sponsors are local businesses whose customers are already at your ground: the sports shop, the gym, the clinic, the restaurant down the road. Offer them something concrete (a banner, a logo on jerseys, a "Player of the Match by" award) at a clear price, and send them proof of reach afterwards. That last step is what turns a one-time sponsor into a yearly one.

Here's how to do all of it, with example pricing and a pitch you can copy.

Who to ask first

Think about who benefits from a few hundred local, sporty, mostly young people seeing their name every weekend. In most neighbourhoods, that list looks like this:

• Sports and fitness shops: the most natural fit. They may give equipment instead of cash, which still counts.
• Gyms and fitness studios: players are exactly their audience. Many will add a free trial offer.
• Clinics and physiotherapists: sports injuries happen; a physio sponsoring "first aid and recovery" is a perfect match.
• Real-estate developers and brokers: often have marketing budgets and want visibility in a specific area. Good candidates for the title slot.
• Restaurants, cafés and juice bars: can sponsor food for the final, or give vouchers to award winners.
• Coaching centres and schools: strong fit for school and college tournaments.
• Local banks, insurance agents and car dealers: less obvious, but they spend on local events.

Start with businesses where a player or parent already knows the owner. A warm introduction beats a cold email every time.

If you're running a work tournament, check whether your own company or a client will sponsor; our office cricket tournament guide covers how to pitch it internally.

What you can offer

Sponsors aren't buying cricket. They're buying attention. List everything a sponsor could have so you can mix and match.

At the ground

• Banners at the boundary or behind the bowler's arm
• Logo on jerseys (chest for the title sponsor, sleeve for others)
• Branded stumps or boundary flags
• A stall or table at the final

Awards with their name on

• "Player of the Match by [Sponsor]" for every game
• "Best Bowler by [Sponsor]" or "Six of the Tournament by [Sponsor]"
• The trophy itself for the title sponsor

Digital

• Their name on results and Player of the Match share cards that go into WhatsApp groups and onto social media
• Mentions in the tournament's social posts
• A sponsor slot inside the tournament app (more on that below)

Example pricing tiers

What you can charge depends heavily on the size of your tournament and your city. These are rough examples for a 12–16 team local tournament, not a rate card.

A few pricing tips:

• Sell one title sponsor only. Exclusivity is what makes it worth more.
• Price per match day too. A ₹15,000 award slot sounds like a lot; "₹1,250 a match day for twelve match days" sounds like a bargain.
• Count the people. Players, families and followers on the app. A concrete number ("about 200 players and 600 followers") is your strongest argument.
• Ask for half upfront. It covers balls and ground booking before the first ball.

A pitch email you can copy

Keep it short. Owners of small businesses read on their phones between customers.

Subject: Sponsor the [Area] Cricket Cup — your name in front of 200 local players

Hi [Name],

I'm organising the [Area] Cricket Cup, a 14-team tennis-ball tournament running every Sunday from [date] to [date] at [ground]. About 200 players from [area] are taking part, and their families and friends follow every match live on their phones.

We're looking for a sponsor for our "Player of the Match" award. For ₹10,000, your business name goes on the award at every one of our 26 matches, on a boundary banner, and on the result cards shared in team groups after each game. At the end, we'll send you a short report showing how many people saw your name.

Could I drop by for ten minutes this week to show you?

Thanks, [Your name], [phone]

Tip: Attach one photo from last year's tournament, or a screenshot of a live scoreboard. A picture of a busy ground sells better than any paragraph.

Deliver what you promised

Sponsors remember broken promises. Before the first match:

• Get banners printed and up on time, every match day.
• Make sure award announcements actually say the sponsor's name.
• Photograph the banner with the crowd, the jersey logos and every award handover. Everyone at the ground can add photos to the match gallery, so ask players to help.

Report reach afterwards

This is where most local tournaments drop the ball, and where you can stand out. Send each sponsor a one-page summary within a week of the final: number of matches, players, photos of their branding, and digital reach.

On MyGully11, the League plan (₹999 per tournament) includes a sponsor slot in the app with impression and click counts, so you can tell a sponsor exactly how many times their name was seen and tapped. The Pro plan (₹2,999) adds a full sponsor report broken down by screen and daily trends that you can share directly. Every plan, including Free, comes with a season report you can share by link or PDF, and participation certificates for players.

Those numbers turn "it went well" into "your brand was seen over 9,000 times," and that makes next year's renewal conversation easy. See the cricket tournament sponsorship app page for how the sponsor slot works, and compare plans on the pricing section.

Keep the money transparent

Sponsorship money should go to the tournament: grounds, balls, trophies, food and jerseys. Share a simple income-and-spend sheet with team captains. It builds trust, and it stops awkward questions at the final.

Also keep sponsorship separate from anything the players do in the app. On MyGully11, fantasy and match predictions are always free, with no entry fees and no cash prizes. A sponsor can put their name on an award, but players never pay to play.

For the rest of your planning, start with how to organise a gully cricket tournament.

Frequently asked questions