Dhoni signs Rs 2.1 billion endorsement deal

MS Dhoni has signed a three-year endorsement deal worth approximately Rs 2.1 billion ($ 42 million) with a sports marketing agency. The deal surpasses the three-year deal worth Rs 1.8 billion ($38 million) that Sachin Tendulkar signed back in 2006.

Dhoni will be represented by a joint venture between Rhiti Sports Management run by Arun Pandey, a former Indian first class cricketer, and advertising agency Mindscapes. The venture will be responsible for the gamut of Dhoni's endorsements, from brand associations to digital rights, as well as his presence on social networking sites. Mindscapes was already managing Dhoni's endorsements prior to the deal, but not the rest of his properties.

Rhiti Sports General Manager Sanjay Pandey confirmed the deal to Cricinfo, saying it was signed about a week ago.

According to the Economic Times, Rhiti and Mindscapes snapped Dhoni ahead of a number of other agencies such as IMG, Percept Group, PMG (promoted by Sunil Gavaskar) and the World Sport Group. The Indian captain currently endorses 22 brands, including PepsiCo, Reebok, Aircel, and Godrej.

Dhoni is said to charge up to Rs 60 million( $1.3 million) an endorsement per year and according to Forbes magazine, took home $10 million last year, $8 million of which came from endorsements, making him the world's highest earning cricketer. An agency typically gets a percentage of the total endorsement value of its client.

With the World Cup being held in the India next year, Dhoni's brand value stands to increase as companies will want to take advantage of the publicity the event is bound to attract. He had signed with Mindscape last year after ending his previous deal with sports management firm Gameplan Sports in 2008. Rhiti Sports also manages fellow Indian cricketers R P Singh and Harbhajan Singh.