Sports
BUDX NBA House returns to India in Delhi
Fan experience with Isiah Thomas and DeMarcus Cousins set for May 9–10 at Bharat Mandapam.
MUMBAI: BUDX NBA House is dribbling back into India because when basketball meets Delhi, even the courtside seats start feeling like courtside culture. The NBA and Budweiser India have confirmed the return of BUDX NBA House, an immersive fan experience blending basketball, music and culture. Following its debut in Mumbai last year, the event moves to New Delhi on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 May 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, Exhibition Hall No. 6, coinciding with the 2026 NBA Playoffs.
The two-day programme (for ages 16 plus) features on-court activities, live performances by international and Indian artists, meet-and-greets with two-time NBA champion and Naismith Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas and four-time NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins, BUDX Masterclasses with expert workshops and panels, a 3-on-3 celebrity game, streetwear showcases, photo ops with the Larry O’Brien Trophy, and appearances by Sacramento Kings mascot Slamson, the Kings Dancers and dunk team. The Kings, who played the first NBA games in India in 2019, return for a second consecutive year.
NBA India country head Rajah Chaudhry said, “Hosting BUDX NBA House in New Delhi for the first time marks an exciting next step in our continued efforts to engage fans across India in new and creative ways. The response in Mumbai last year showcased the incredible passion for basketball in the country.”
AB Inbev vice president of marketing & trade Marketing for India Vineet Sharma added, “After witnessing the phenomenal response to the first-ever BUDX NBA House in Mumbai, we’re excited to bring an elevated and more immersive edition to fans in New Delhi.”
Last year’s Mumbai edition welcomed more than 6,000 fans over two days. BUDX NBA House has previously been held in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Mexico, the US and the UK, with Australia set to host its first edition on 14–17 May 2026.
The Delhi event will be produced, promoted and ticketed by District by Zomato. Further details on partners and programming will be announced soon.
The 2025-26 NBA season is streamed live in India on Prime Video, the NBA Youtube channel and NBA League Pass.
In a country where cricket reigns supreme, the NBA is quietly sinking three-pointers into culture proving that when hoops, hip-hop and heritage collide in Delhi, even the fans start believing the next big slam could be Indian.
Sports
KKR takes Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo across India in seven languages this IPL season
From a four-storey mural in Kolkata to team buses in Chennai and Ahmedabad, KKR is turning a cricket campaign into a cultural one
KOLKATA: Kolkata Knight Riders have never been shy about making noise. This IPL season, they are making it in seven languages.
The franchise has rolled out one of the more ambitious branding exercises of the TATA IPL 2026 season, combining a sprawling outdoor campaign in its home city with a travelling multilingual initiative that takes the team’s iconic slogan, Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo, into the regional language of every away city it plays in.
In Kolkata, the campaign is impossible to miss. More than 75,000 square feet of outdoor space has been commandeered across the city, encompassing 65 billboards at key locations, branded pillars and pole kiosks along major routes, LED boards and metro branding. The centrepiece is a hand-painted mural across the full face of a four-storey building on Rashbehari Avenue near Bijan Setu. Inspired by the theme Prothom Bhalobasha KKR, meaning “first love” in Bengali, the mural features players Varun Chakravarthy, Ajinkya Rahane and Rinku Singh alongside the franchise’s famous rallying cry. It has already become a fan pilgrimage site, drawing crowds and generating considerable traction on social media.
Beyond Kolkata, KKR is doing something rather cleverer. As the team travels for away fixtures, its team bus carries the franchise slogan translated into the local language of each host city. The campaign began in Mumbai ahead of KKR’s first away game on 29th March, with the Marathi adaptation on display. Over the course of the season, the initiative will span seven cities and seven languages: Marathi in Mumbai, Tamil in Chennai, Gujarati in Ahmedabad, Hindi in Lucknow and Delhi, Telugu in Hyderabad, and Chhattisgarhi in Raipur.
Binda Dey, chief marketing officer of Knight Riders Sports, was candid about what the campaign is trying to achieve. “This season, we wanted to go beyond visibility and create moments of genuine cultural connection for our fans,” she said. “When fans in Chennai see Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo in Tamil, or fans in Ahmedabad see it in Gujarati, we want that to feel like a moment of recognition, not just advertising. Combined with our outdoor campaign in Kolkata that gives us mass visibility in our home market, we’re building a campaign that is as much about identity and pride as it is about cricket.”
The branding push sits alongside a wider set of fan engagement initiatives this season, including Knights Unplugged 3.0, the VIDA Knights Electrifying Box Cricket tournament and fan meet-ups across cities.
KKR, it is worth remembering, is not merely a cricket team. The Knight Riders brand spans four franchises across four countries, with nine trophies between them, including three IPL titles in 2012, 2014 and 2024. It is one of the more commercially sophisticated operations in world T20 cricket, and this campaign reflects that instinct precisely. In a sport where every franchise is chasing the same eyeballs, KKR has decided that the smartest way to stand out is not to shout louder, but to speak in the right tongue. Seven cities, seven languages, one battle cry. The purple and gold, it turns out, travels rather well.
