The Business of Sports

Sports in India was synonymous to Cricket till some 5 years back. Media flashed stories of luxurious homes of cricketers, their 100 crore brand endorsements, travel diaries of their extravagant tours abroad and elaborate set-ups they managed to create back home like fancy restaurants, gymnasiums and coaching academies. Almost a negligent amount of money was poured into other sports, as if they were non-existant. No corporate was willing to take the risk to put money, advertise and hence none of the channels were much interested in televising it. Stories of Hockey players, Kabaddi players and other sportsperson traveling in Sleeper coaches by the Indian Railway for matches are widely known. In-fact, such were the adversities, that one time a key strike player managed to get himself shot in the arm during his train journey, just before they were about to embark for the Hockey World Cup. All this was happening when the Cricketers travelled by chartered flights, ordered food & wine on the go, captured most TV ad space and returned to rousing welcome when they were back(if they won, that is).

All that changed when the IPL was launched in 2007. With the success of the league and later India  successfully hosting the Commonwealth games in 2010, different channels started to open up for other Sports. A lot of money was plugged into the Sports industry and corporates started to set aside a portion of their marketing budget specifically for Sports.

I had the privilege to attend a session by Dr. Allen Sanderson, World Renowned Economist from the University of Chicago which was organized by FICCI in New Delhi. It was very interesting to understand a Economist point of view on the Business of Sports. FICCI on the outset, has a dedicated Sports division headed by Rajpal Singh who said that they are buoyant about the future of Sports in India. Backed by an able team and with constant support from the top brasses of the Sports fraternity, they are pushing to get Sports recognized as a sector in India.

Allen started by questioning the audience if anyone knew who the 3 highest paid people in the United States- Pentagon were? The Football coaches of the Army, Navy & the Air Force was what he revealed, which left the audience astounded. It only goes to show that Sports is such an important sector for US and other countries unlike in India. He explained the entire process of transformation of Sports Industry in US from the 1970's when the owners had a lions share of the pie(money) to the current scenario where, with an evolved system, the players rake in a 50:50 deal as free agents. No doubt the pie has got bigger over the years with the advent of Television and revenue being drawn from Stadiums (seats, food, boxes etc), merchandising, endorsements, broadcasting & media rights. A 30 second Television Commercial during the American Super Bowl would cost some $400 million. Yes, you read it right, 400 MILLION DOLLARS.

Television has had a huge influence in changing the way Sports are perceived & watched by plugging in an insurmountable amount of money. The thrill of watching a LIVE game on TV, with replays, commentary and the latest technologies is an unexplainable excitement for a Sports Connoisseur.

If we take a look at the current scenario in India, there have been a number of Leagues which have come up on the lines of the IPL. We have the I- League(Football), Hockey India League(HIL), Indian Wrestling League(IWL), Mahesh Bhupati League, Mixed Martial Art(MMA), Rugby League, Indian Badminton League(IBL) league etc to name a few. These have infused a fresh blood into Sports in India. Other Sports are planning to follow suit to garner mileage and gather sponsors. The Business of Sports is growing at an astounding pace and TV Channels like Neo, Zee Sports, Ten Action have started Televising these events, which have led to a wider reach and popularity of these Sports discipline. The Sports industry has also started to witness investments from Corporates like IMG- Reliance in Football(700 crore), Punj Lyod in Squash(Rs 30 mn), Sahara in Hockey & Cricket( Rs 206 crore), Jaypee Group in Cricket & Motor Sports( Rs 400 mn).

Allen took us through the details of why certain economies like US, UK made profits out of Olympic Games while some countries like China, Russia and others had serious repercussion when the games got over and were in huge debts. He also laid stress on the fact that Infrastructure plays a very important role in developing an athlete and that we need to start grooming talent from the age of 5-6 years because an athlete requires a minimum training of 10,000 hours before he can compete at the International level. The training in United States happens at Colorado which is at a High Altitude. This is done to accustom the athletes to the weather conditions so that they are able to perform anywhere around the world. Citing exemplary anecdotes about top athletes like Michael Phelps and drawing strong conclusions from writers like Sherwin Rosen & Simon Rottenberg,he ended the discussion with strong views about the state of affairs in the US and how exploiting the athlete is a part of the system.

An amount close to $600 billion is being plugged in the Sports Industry Worldwide. Sports business in India need to deal with issues like Return on investment, initial costs & annual maintenance of infrastructure. Sports is still in the nascent stage but will be a force to reckon in the next 5 years.

Was this Called for at the end of a successful tour?

You must be wondering why the time lag in writing this post( my last was when India won the World Cup). Well to be honest it has been an overdose of Cricket for the past 6 months & i did not want to bore you guys with some more gyaan. Also i did not want to write about the IPL this year as i don't prefer writing about Entertainment: my area is Cricket & i want to stick to it.

India's First assignment after the Cup was a depleted tour of Windies where they sent a Second string team in the ODI's & barring a few senior players, the Test team too was off the hook. India managed to Clinch both the series 3-2 & 1-0 respectively though.

Typically Indian style, we ended the series with a controversy. The Media & Cricket pundits have been venting their anger on Television, Paper, Radio & Social Networking sites(read twitter) and god knows where else. They have been disappointed by " How the No. 1 team in the World has bowed down & refused to chase a minimal target " which would have given them a 2-0 victory in the series. What they have failed to acknowledge is the fact that we have come back victorious from the trip. Though we were playing against a WI A side, our team was not full throttle too. A series win abroad must always be cherished and that too in the Caribbean.

I strongly recommend you watch the documentary " The Fire of Babylon" for it makes you realize how lethal the Windies Bowling attack was in the 70's & 80's. Some of these pundits who have been blabbering their lungs out in anger have even failed to put bat to ball then. Bowlers like Marshall, Gardener & Holding were a terror for the batsman. I was surprised to see that a SG led India abandoned a match in WI because they felt that the WI bowlers were bowling to kill and were too lethal in their approach.

Don't get me wrong here. I understand being No. 1 comes with an added responsibility of being aggressive & thrashing each opponent which comes in your way till you are dethroned by a worthy successor. Similar fete was meted out to Windies & Australia in the past. Like my cricket fanatic friends & countrymen , i was also awake till 3 am wanting India to chase down 180 odd runs and i think 86 from 90 was gettable. But the point I'm trying to drive home is that it was a tactical error & must not be judged as a blunder by Dhoni. Reports of him losing his sheen of captaincy & all that bullshit was not called for. A mountain was created out of a mole. India should have welcomed their heroes with open arms after wining the series & the decision of not going for the runs should have been debatable after the Coach & Captain clarified. As a cricket player & enthusiast i could see that the pitch was difficult to Bat on. Run scoring was not a cake wake as most have made it sound. If they felt that they could have endangered a series win and played safe it was done in the interest of the country not an individual. This controversy has overshadowed the victory which we achieved in WI, where a few years back saving a series was the biggest task.

What would MSD be thinking of now? He must be wondering what went wrong. They played well in all 3 tests & would have won all three if rain hadn't intervened. They have directly flown to England for the Test & ODI and they needed to be in the right frame of mind to be able to give their best shot. This is a series where it will matter the most. And look what we've done. Rather than giving them a morale boost for the tougher series we have made his mind wonder from captaincy to an issue of lesser significance.

India is a weird country. We thrive on controversy it seems. No wonder we open the Newspaper in anticipation of the Front Page being flooded by new scams & controversies. The same guns who were praising MSD for his heroics have criticized him for playing safe.They need to realize that it might have been a tactical error & every captain does that. Why did Dravid declare when Sachin was on 194 in a test? or Why did Ganguly win the Toss in WC 2003 & bowl first?

A deep feeling rises from within which says that Cricket is not what it used to be. With the influx of flop cricketers as analysts, media gets it's own masala out of it. Commentary is more of dull comments rather than energetic smooth speech to the ears. No wonder stalwarts like Boycott are no longer chased & Tony Grieg appears on post match shows rather than Live commentary.

Cricket has evolved & Media has played a prominent role in its evolution. Good or Bad? its for you to decide.

The World Cup 2011 Begins Today

Ladies & Gentlemen, the wait is over. The Cup that counts begins in Mirpur today with a cracker of a game to be played between the Windies & Pakistan . After a string of Warm up games against the associates members of the ICC, the Best 8 teams in the world are fighting it out for Glory.

Neither of the 8 teams which have qualified have been able to dominate completely in the tournament and this ,by far, is the most open World Cup till date. Four time Champions, Australia have looked rusty and beatable, far from the dominance which it has shown over the last 3 cups. England has provided the much needed entertainment and have been beaten by 2 minnows, but have raised the bar against the top teams. Although Pakistan have ended the 34 match unbeaten streak by Australia and topped the Group A table, they have shown signs of crumbling under pressure.

India has been good in patches. The top order is firing but the bowling, fielding and the batting collapse in the last few overs are the areas which needs improvement. South Africa have looked like a complete team even though they choked against England. Sri Lanka again have been good in patches & lost to Pakistan. New Zealand & Windies haven't done anything to gather attention and are slated to bow down in the quarters.

So the much awaited Business end of the tournament is here and in a weeks time, two teams which hold their nerve will face each other at Mumbai where the Winner will be crowned.

Will the Indian team play for glory at Mumbai? We have to wait & watch.


Pakistan vs West Indies
Quarter Final 1
Sher -e- Bangla National Stadium
Mirpur, Bangladesh
Live on Star Cricket, ESPN
2.00 pm IST