Fantasized reality of Indian Sports Leagues.

The year of liberalization of the Indian economy 1991, when India became the hub of investments, allowing the global giants to enter the market contributing to the economic growth of our Nation. Sports has been one such industry growing at the rate of 15% per annum globally, which is the fastest according to DataPOWA (Kansal, 2019). The global sports market reached a value of nearly $488.5 billion in 2018, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3% since 2014 (TheBusinessResearchCompany.com, 2019).

Surprisingly Sports in India, is yet to gain its recognition as an Industry or Economic sector because of some meaningful reasons which are, there is very little research being done on the size of the market, market potential and existing opportunities as well as potential future opportunities as an ‘Industry’ (Aurora, 2019). Even though, the projections have a different story, which says sports in India grew from a $1.3 billion market to $2.7 billion in just a matter of five years, but with a very little contribution of 0.1% to the Indian GDP compared to 0.5% as a global standard (Staff, E. 2019). The growth has been measured in terms of sponsorships, social media presence, no. of posts related to league pages, player profiles with 50+ data points measuring the growth in interest in the respective regions (Kansal, 2019). But the question we are about to discuss here is, what sort of growth are we really looking at?

Is it the growth of stakeholders financially?

Or,

Is it the growth of sporting culture in the country?

Cricket is one sport, which has been growing in India ever since the 1983 win at the World Cup in England beating the best of that era, West-Indies which the current generation did not witness. But then, it did change the perspective of each individual of that generation who felt their existence at a global platform (Harsha Bhogle from Sachin: A Billion Dreams Movie). Since then, BCCI has invested their time and money to ensure the young aspirants dreaming to be future cricketers and influencers, get a platform to prove their worth at various levels and respective tournaments which would eventually prepare them for the International challenges (debatable). It is the process of creating a stronger base which makes it more effective and efficient for any sport to progress and gain the stature of the people to accept that sport and grow significantly. There is an interesting article which talks about, how the Indian Premier League (IPL) "success template" was just copy-pasted assuming that the same would flourish for the respective sport as it did for Cricket (Gadiya. M, 2019).

While talking about leagues, for a nation of over 1.3 billion people, the calculation seems to have 15+ leagues helping respective sports to flourish, right? But it does not seem to be a sensible move, with 6-7 leagues out of those 15+ leagues, not being able to sustain, be relatively viable financially and create a societal impact. It is not about the quantity we should be focusing on instead; it should be the quality which should be the core to help India progress towards a united goal of Olympic Gold which Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) along with Sports Authority of India (SAI) wishes to achieve through various programs like Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) and Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), to be the House of World Champions.

Leagues are where the best compete against the best, whereas grassroots development helps to identify, recognize, develop and enhance that talent to be at their best with the promotion of practices such as regional, district, national, and international tournaments. It ensures exposure to the young aspirants, preparing to be the best and then leagues bring in the competition to be the Champions amongst the best of the World.

The fact Indian Sports is heading pretty much in the wrong direction apart from Kabaddi (Pro Kabaddi League), Indian Cricket (IPL, TNPL, MT20L, KPL, etc.), Badminton (Pro Badminton League), Table Tennis (Ultimate Table Tennis League), and some involvement from Football with major pillar's being Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League (Hero I-League), is that we are promoting these leagues to be the turning point for the grassroots to evolve without a full-fledged system of training and tournaments working alongside State Associations and National governing bodies which is actually, the other-way-around.

'If we plan to build the tallest building on the planet, the roots have to be much, much, much, stronger than the top floor. If the roots aren't strong enough, the building won't stand strong for even a fraction of a second'. Some facts cannot be just turned around and used as per our convince. It's the Athlete, whose life at stake, which is much more valuable than that tinge of money invested with hidden sentiments of profitability which are overshadowed by the sense of Identification, Development & Enhancement.

How do we plan our way forward?

Keeping it simple, is the key to the success of Indian Sports. One day at a time, One Sport at a time with specific detailing of each and every athlete we will be working with, both on & off the field, hence Individualistic approach would be an ideal approach. It is very important to establish a base to identify young budding athletes who can be further developed to be role-models responsible for influencing society for the better good.

Moreover, the awareness about the sporting eco-system has to be delivered to the parents of those budding talents to ensure the approach towards being a World Champion, starts from learning the basics of every sport, not just one-particular-sport. Along with exposure to multiple situations through regional tournaments, district and state level tournaments, national tournaments with a difficulty level of their own, which would prepare them for further pressure handling, setting up the stage for representing India at various International platforms as well as bring in innovations to carve their way out to be the World Champion. Now, it would be the responsibility of such leagues to bring together all the champions competing against each other, while representing different cultures and regions of India, building a sense of connection and trust within the people.

Andre Agassi,

“What makes something special is not just what you have to gain, but what you feel there is to lose.”

Reference:

Kansal, S. (2019). India fastest growing sports market at 15% per annum POWA index - InsideSport. [online] InsideSport. Available at: https://www.insidesport.co/india-fastest-growing-sports-market-at-15-per-annum-datapowa/ [Accessed 4 Jul. 2019].

TheBusinessResearchCompany.com. (2019). Sports Market Global Opportunities And Strategies To 2022. [online] Available at: https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/sports-market [Accessed 6 Jul. 2019].

Aurora, S. (2019). India's Growing Sports Industry. [online] The Diplomat. Available at: https://thediplomat.com/2016/07/indias-growing-sports-industry/ [Accessed 6 Jul. 2019].

Staff, E. (2019). Indian sports industry can become a $10 billion industry in the next 5-7 years: Available at: https://www.exchange4media.com/media-tv-news/Indian-sports-industry-can-become-a-$10-billion-industry-in-next-5-7-yearssanjay-guptamd-star-india-at-the-cii-scorecard-forum2018-91312.html [Accessed 6 Jul. 2019].

Gadiya, M. (2019). The Blockbuster Growth of Sports Industry in India. [online] Voice of Indian Sports - KreedOn. Available at: https://www.kreedon.com/growth-of-sports-industry-india/ [Accessed 6 Jul. 2019].

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