SELLING POINT: Hero Honda (top) will bank on Sourav Ganguly, while Samsung has been forced to take off its ad

For most Indians, it's a game. For corporate India, it's a hot commodity, which, ever since the controversy over player contracts, has only become hotter. A last-minute settlement may have allowed the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka to proceed sedately but the controversy and the BCCI-ICC row has already thrown sponsors' plans awry. Ravinder Zutshi, vice-president, Samsung India-which has seven top Indian cricketers appearing in its ads-says the manner in which the controversy is settled will "have a significant bearing on brand endorsement by cricketers in the future".

An attempt by the ICC to prevent its official sponsor, South African Airways, from being "ambushed" has left the Indian team without a sponsor after Sahara pulled out. Says Sanjay Lal, executive director, Percept D'Mark, Sahara's agency: "Forget the money that has been invested. For Sahara, it is an opportunity lost."

With the ongoing Champions Trophy and World Cup 2003 in mind, Indian firms were in campaign mode. Samsung, LG, MRF and Colgate had signed up new cricketers. Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Fiat were putting together mega-budget ad campaigns. Now they are playing half-cock, waiting and watching. Most have decided to abide by the ICC contract for the Sri Lankan tour. The "Team Samsung" campaign, for instance, has been taken off.

But trouble will surely follow because cricket is a substantial ad-spend area. Industry spend on the game has been rising exponentially. In 1996, the year the World Cup was held in India, it (including ads, endorsements and sponsorships) was Rs 50 crore. By the next World Cup-England, 1999-it had risen to Rs 200 crore. Next year, it is likely to touch Rs 1,000 crore.

Investment in cricket makes perfect business sense. Says Atul Sobti, senior vice-president, Hero Honda: "Cricket is the only sport where India can be No. 1 and hence the pull." A recent four-metro survey carried out by Indica Research rated Sachin Tendulkar the top celebrity endorser-bigger than actors Madhuri Dixit, Shah Rukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan. Says B. Narayanswamy, head of Indica: "Tendulkar is the only real hero India seems to have."

STAR APPEAL: A market survey rated Tendulkar as the top celebrity endorser

When LG tested the waters during the 1999 World Cup, it found its brand awareness zooming. Brand recall rose from 15 per cent to 35 per cent immediately after the Cup. Sales in April-June 1999 were 174 per cent higher than the corresponding period in 1998. Convinced, LG happily paid an estimated Rs 145 crore to be the ICC's "global partner" till World Cup 2007.

The ICC's contracts with its official sponsors, who paid a premium for the ambush clauses, run for the 2003 and 2007 Cups and for the 2002, 2004 and 2006 Champions Trophies. They restrict rival endorsements from players during a tour and for 30 days before and after. For the ongoing Champions Trophy, the Indian team has got the ICC to pare the 30-day period to 18-but the problem is bound to return. For the players, this could potentially mean three months of no endorsements in a World Cup year. Lal terms this "very restrictive".

Nevertheless, if the ICC has its way the impact will be significant. Ambush marketing will simply die. In 1996, Pepsi's "Nothing official about it" campaign featuring top cricketers won more mileage than official sponsors Coke at one-fourth the price.

If the ambush marketing clause is successfully pushed through, a company that buys the ICC event sponsorship rights will have a virtual ad monopoly in its line of business. Cricketers will see endorsement incomes fall. Yet a lawyer warns that, barring the unpredictable, "a court of law could uphold a petition by cricketers accusing the ICC of restricting their trade".

Some sponsors also make the "nationalist" point. The ICC is supposed to sign 12 official sponsors for the 2003 and 2007 World Cups. So far it has found only four, three of them Indian. Seventy-five per cent of cricket revenue comes from India but it goes into the ICC coffers and is used to promote cricket around the world. "Shouldn't Indian sentiment be respected?" asks one cricket agent. Patriotism, it seems, is now the last refuge of the sponsor.