Indian Sports Lacks a Long Term Agenda & a Unified Action Game Development Program
THE OVER ARCHING SOCIAL OBJECTIVES: Sports has the power to heal, build character, resolve differences, unite people and to create cohesiveness unity within a nation. With close to 45% of India's population under the age of 20 years, sports can be effectively leveraged to build life skills and as a means of channeling youthful energies.
Change through sport creates a deeper granular impact that prepares future generations and helps integrate across people, culture & religious. With this understanding in mind, the Indian Government has initiated a number of policy & program changes to promote sports towards two objectives: - (1) Build Awareness & Participation at the Grass-Root Level, (2) Towards Performance Excellence and Podium Finishes
OUR SPORTS DEVELOPMENT MODEL IS LOPSIDED: The sports industry in India is estimated to grow at a 20% clip over the next decade. Seeing this opportunity, big corporates and entrepreneurs are actively evaluating & investing across the full spectrum - incubating leagues, broadcasting, athlete performance, technology and the support eco system. However, our sports development model is lopsided and suffers from: (1) Skewed Allocation of funds, (2) Limited Grass-root Development Focus & Commercial Viability, (3) UnBalanced Media Coverage & Poor Awareness Building Efforts, (4) Unsustainable Career Choice & (5) Lack of Patience & Long Term Focus
KEY INVESTOR CONCERNS: Over the last decade, sporting leagues have popped up across Badminton, Hockey, Football, Wrestling & Kabaddi and many more are planned across other sports such as Athletes, Golf, Boxing, Volleyball & Basketball. However, almost every league is struggling with key fundamental questions that include:
These questions can be addressed in the long term only if India has an - (1)Agenda for Sports Development, (2) Adopts a Unified Action Game Development Program
(1) INDIA’s “FIVE POINT AGENDA” TOWARDS SPORTS DEVELOPMENT: Statistics indicate that India’s level of participation in sports is less than 2% of our total population versus the USA & the EU at 32% while Asia Pacific Region is at about 15% of total population.
(2) UNIFIED ACTION GAME DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: Provide Sports Promoters the opportunity to positively impact the development of the sport by integrating efforts across the vertical.
About the Author: Mayank is the Promoter of GoPlaySport, a company working towards developing & promoting second tier sports in India such as Squash & Cycling. He is also a member of the FICCI Sports Committee and can be reached at [email protected]