Corporates give cold shoulder to CWG

New Delhi, Sep 30 (India Report)
With less than three days remaining for the Commonwealth Games to kick start, it has not been able to generate enough interest from corporates, who are being driven away by negativism around the mega sporting event.
While most of the companies, including LG Electronics India and Godrej, have decided to give the event a cold shoulder, others like Hero Honda, Tata Motors and Coca Cola are sponsoring the CWG, being held from October 3-14, in kind.
"With all the bad name associated with the event, we will not feel we have missed an opportunity even if the CWG proves to be a success,"L G Electronics India National Sales head Amitabh Tiwari told media.
He said the company did not plan for the CWG and will not make any last minute changes, adding the organisers of the event should have approached all the corporate houses, who are major spenders on sports to make it successful.
Stating that the group is not interested in the CWG, Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej said:"We are not looking at any sort of association with the games."
He said no one has approached the group for sponsorship, advertising or any other kind of association and"even we are not interested".
Commenting on the general lack of enthusiasm among the corporate houses, Madison World Chairman Sam Balsara said:.
"The interest among corporates is very low as except for the opening ceremony and a few key events, the games are unlikely to generate any substantial viewership."
He, however, said companies should look at associating with the CWG for patriotic reasons.
"We are trying to persuade our clients to have a re-look at it,"Balsara said.
The CWG has failed to lure private players and has been banking on public sectors enterprises like Railways, NTPC, Central Bank of India and Air India, who are the sponsors.
Only three notable private players are associated with the event. While Hero Honda is the official motorcycle partner, Tata Motors is providing over 1,809 vehicles to be used during the Games. Coca Cola on the other hand is the official beverages partner.
Doordarshan, the official broadcaster of the event has also been struggling to rope in advertisers. It has already revised downwards its ad revenue from the event to Rs 100 crore from initially planned Rs 200 crore.
In order to give a filip, the government had asked public sector oil companies to book ad spots worth Rs 10 crore on DD&aposs national and regional channels.