Entrepreneurial Spirit to be encouraged more for Revival of Indian Sport

Arjun J Chaudhri

Forbes 2013 has recently published a list of 100 richest sports persons on account of tournament play earnings and endorsement contracts of products that includes goods and/or services, marketed in domestic and/or international markets. This list has acquired interest in how and where India National Team captain in all 3 Version of Cricket MS Dhoni [No.16] is placed. Frequent debate is focused on how much mainstream cricket players are earning as compared to athletes in other sports in India, and whether that is fair or unfair to India-watched sport in general.

The key focus should have been on Forbes 100 richest sports business owners who are the principal investors of sport in the Private Sector,the reason why sports other than the favored pastime such as baseball in USA, or soccer in Europe & South America, have received capital flows, and much needed build of infrastructure such composition of teams & equipment, sport-specific stadia, broadcasting of tournament  on Internet, TV, Radio & Print, all of which combined has resulted in Profitable Marketing of the sport itself, and its participants. This has been termed as ‘Business Model’ of Sport with recognizable Revenue Streams, eager to be adopted in Markets such as India without the necessary investment of time, cost & effort into customizing it to domestic compliance for market acceptance here.

The true reason why theory has converted into viable practice is because of unstinting support of entrepreneurs who have invested their time, effort, and cost in their chosen sport is not necessarily for a favorable Return on Investment [ROI] but that the Account of their lives has generated characteristics in their being which has led them to a point where they have become business owners of sport. What those accounts are will vary from business owner to business owner, and subject of research. However, a single strain that runs through their veins is their single most or joint contribution to bringing joy to those who play the sport while they sit and/or participate into popularizing it.

Let us briefly examine a few such business owners of sport who transitioned from mainstream businessmen to a wider portfolio of sports investment:

1. Terry Pagula sold his business to Royal Dutch Shell for 4.7 billion in 2010. The hockey fanatic bought his hometown National Hockey League [NHL] Team, the ‘Buffalo Sabres’, a year later for $189 million.

2. Stan Kroenke owns Grid-Iron Football’s or NFL’s ‘St. Louis Rams’, Basketball’s ‘Denver Nuggets’, Ice-Hockey’s ‘Colorado Avalanche’, and EPL Soccer’s ‘Arsenal’, and a Regional Television Sports Network for assured coverage, and ROI from Advertising and/or Sponsored Revenue.

3. John Henry owns Baseball’s ‘Boston Red Sox’, EPL Soccer’s ‘Liverpool’, and NASCAR’s ‘Roush Fenway Racing’.

4. Malcolm Grazer owns NFL’s ‘Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ since 1995. He acquired EPL Soccer’s ‘Manchester United’ in 2003 and took it public in 2012. In early 2013, Manchester United’s Stock Value rose high enough to make it the first sports team worth more than $3 billion.

5.   Italy’s PM, Silvio Berlusconi, whose net worth is $7.8 billion, according to Forbes, is owner of A.C. Milan, which he bought in 1986, has won 7 UEFA titles.

These and such business owners of sport have transferred their business administrative & management skills to their teams, which has in turn ensured employment & income of employees, attached to their investment, including sportspersons who make it to the Forbes 100 richest sports persons list, and taken together create a GDP of sports sector or industry for which structured policy is enacted by federations and government. Maybe the key to reviving sport other than Cricket in India, notwithstanding allegations of illegal betting, is to promote small & medium enterprise in sport under current Government of India policy for loan disbursement and access to land & material resources before the more serious plunge into National Leagues.