A
strong business focus, a collaborative effort and a friendly media are critical
to take Indian sports eco system into the nexthigher orbit of growth.
Embedded in the new vision is the conscious effort to move away from a regime
of extreme focus to cricket to an all-embracing sports regime that creates
local niche games and heroes.
This
seems to be the upshot of the SCORECARD 2014 - National Conference on Business
of Sports, organized by CII in the capital today. Important highlight of
the conference was ferreting out of success stories that has helped games like
football, hockey etc. that has helped to move up in the pecking order. Yet, a
lot more needs to be done to invoke the passion and zeal that these sports
deserve.
Interestingly,
the Conference was unique in its content orientation, profile of discussants
and the level of participation. Newer ideations, perceptions and action plans
have come up for heralding a new sports culture that touches the imagination of
the people. Implicit in this scale of activity is building attractive models
that can help create corporations to invest in sports, sustainable development
of the sportsmen and building sport facilities across India, which can be
accessed by everyone in India.
The
most preferred route for enhancing business quotient in sports is introduction
of league system. The innovation that was brought about in the IPL has
brought about a paradigm shift in how sports was managed, played, viewed,
generated sponsorship and much beyond that. It is instructive to emulate
this success in other sports like hockey, athletics and football. The quantum
jump that can be brought about in the profile of these games are immense but
the underlying premise is that there is a lag effect for turning around such
sports events. Patience, pragmatism and learning from the experience of other
tournaments are basics to the gradual transformation of these sporting events.
Critical
to the new eco sports system is the focus on coaching and coaching of coaches.
Such a dispensation is conspicuous by its absence in the Indian scene today
except for some recent examples wherein the world class coaches were brought in
with the help of corporate sponsorships for the hockey league. The football
league which is expected to kick off shortly will also have services of the
world class coaches.
Media,
the conference felt, can bring about the desired mind set transformation among
sports persons, sports lovers, civil society and sports administration. It is
one thing to have the state-of-the -art sports complexes. But more important is
optimally using them for the common good. Economics of building large stadia
can be rationalized by making them adaptable for various purposes. There are
international examples of larger stadia being used successfully for
sports activities, social purposes and also in providing basic amenities for
common man for walking, jogging and for even organizing entertainment
programs. This culture could take strong roots in India. This may also
herald a new eco system in sports, where everyone will have a stake in
the sports and bring about a community connect.
Resource
crunch was a major impediment in sports development. In this regard, a view was
expressed that the mandate of the new companies act, which stipulates
corporates to spend on corporate social responsibility should be channelized
for building sports infrastructure across the country to provide accessibility
to promising sports persons.
The
commercial success of IPL was highlighted. But the spill over of that interest
in other sports activities is conspicuous by its absence. Partly, media was
responsible for that for not making heroes out of the events. For instance, PT
Usha was the reigning champion in athletics for quite some time. India won the
Olympics gold for several years. But those who scripted the Indian success were
unsung and unheard. A new
thinking has to permeate among the media to educate, package and report events
and games that are perceived by the public as less important. That will help
the sponsors and event managers to showcase these games.
The
best of Indian sports-cricket-fade into insignificance in terms of its brand
value in comparison to revenue raked in by FIFA or even a third category
football sporting club in UK or Germany. This is where a
collaborative effort of the corporate, the government and the media should be
forged.
Some of the important
speakers who addressed the conference include Mr Raghu Iyer, CEO, Rajasthan
Royals, Mr Mustafa Ghouse, COO, JSW Bengaluru FC; Mr AmritMathur, Former COO,
GMR Sports and Advisor, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports; Dr Nathan Price,
Personal Excellence Consultant, Australian Institute of Sport; Dr Paul Gastin,
Associate Professor, Sport Science, Deakin University, Australia; Mr
Erick Haskell, MD, Adidas Group, India; Ms Priti Srivastava, Vice
President, Reliance Industries Ltd; Mr Virendra Kumar Mahendru, GM (Civil) and
Head – Corporate Sports, ONGC; Mr Deepak Jolly, VP – Public Affairs and
Communications, Coca-Cola India and SWA; Mr Thomas Abraham, Co-founder &
Editorial Director, Sportz Network Pvt Ltd, Mr Rajesh Sethi, CEO, Ten Sports;
Mr Santosh Desai, MD &CEO, Future Brands Ltd and Mr Harish Krishnamachar,
Country Head and Sr VP, World Sport Group.