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Infrastructure Issues in Indian Sports?
Submitted by sorabh on 22 October, 2009 - 13:42
in
I don't think so!
Yesterday was yet another special day. Soon-to-be-married-and-I-am-so-happy-for-her good friend Mansi Pingle invited me over at ITC, Parel to quietly attend a 'dual' press conference ... all about sports! The panel included Olympic Champions like the gracious javelin thrower (and Gold medallist in 1984) from the UK, Tessa Sanderson (I had no clue who this lady is till yesterday) ... boxer-bhai Vijender Singh, sports journalist Ayaz Memon, and a host of Olympians and Arjuna awardees. The audience included some more Olympians, and Arjuna Awardees .... one of whom was Viren Rasquinha (one more reason why I went to the conference, really).
Compared to how an evening full of sports should be ... yesterday was relatively dull. No wonder, then, that I found the good food to be one of the best things on the venue (they had stuff like cheese-balls, pastries, pav-bhaji ... etc. etc.) ... and I made sure I had a decent helping of that before the "godly-sports-noblemen" began their oh-so-boring-preaching about, "we will do something about sports in India ... to make India a sports power ... blah blah blah."
So what was the press conference about?
Since you asked ... it was about a 'global' firm called 'TransStadia' that plans to make world-class stadia all around the country (one in every state - to be precise), and wanted to kick-it-off with a press conference of some regard. A suggestion to these people: How about a decent website atleast? This is what they have today.
A lesson I had learnt from my time in SportzVillage is that no matter how "private" you are as a company, nothing in sports, even at the local level, is manifest-able unless you have the "blessings" of the concerned government or federation. Not very surprising, then, that they invited local-MP Priya Dutt to "grace" the occasion (they packaged it saying, "It's a Public-Private Partnership" ... while we all know how much the 'public part' really contributes in a PPP in India)!
Given the magnitude of the project that directly involves real-estate dealings, rural land (where else will they make the infra?), media, the ultra-corrupt sports industry of India ... isn't it a surprise that just one MP actually showed up! Or may be ... many will follow suit soon ... when the proverbial Ganga starts to flow!
So why am I so annoyed by the experience?
I have my reasons. When I stepped into the domain of sports management in 2005, I had these noble aims of "taking the Indian football team to the World Cup" ... and "ensuring that India bags a few Gold medals in the 20XX Olympics" ... However, in 2008, I realised that all that is the purest form of crap you can get anywhere! These aims are not sustainable ... they won't do much for the sports culture in our country. For instance, even after Vijender Singh's exploits, can we say that India has a sexy "boxing" culture? Do we really feel that China, with more medals to show than Australia in the last Olympics, is a more sporting nation than either Australia or the US?
My perceptions about sports in India changed while I was trying to make my ends meet from within the sports industry. I am a big fan of problem solving by simplifying things ... and my feel is that by stating such hi-fi ambitions, we are just complicating the entire process (if, at all, we are not simply showing off). We, really, shouldn't worry about trying to find a super-talent, honing it, providing it with all the support, and hoping that this super-talent makes it big in an event that comes across once in 4 years. No risk-management guru, no matter how high he may be on the best brand of Russian Vodka, would ever suggest that this is a good business proposition!
Our worry, on the contrary, should be to ensure that kids around us have a nice time playing something - both, for fun, and competitively too. Not just kids ... but housewives, men, women ... everyone. That's it. That's what a sports manager's simple aim should be. That's what will bring sports more to the "grass roots" (it's a different matter that most of these opinionated spokesmen have no idea of what exactly is, "grass roots"!), engage local businesses with local media, and that's how the local man's pockets will lend themselves to local development of sports. Integrate this differential equation from zero to ... hmmm ... 'district level', and you've got a district which is truly 'sporty' (example: The Coorg district in Karnataka where bachcha-bachcha plays hockey)!
Integrate it from zero to 'state', and we will have state that will take pride in it's sports (example: Manipur ... women in Manipur are the 'men of the family' ... who run businesses, houses, and play sports - regularly. Any guesses who have won more than 80% of the Women's National Football Leagues in the last many years?!)
One day, we should be able to integrate this equation from zero to ... the national level ... and we will have a sporting country. However, we will be too busy with our local sports to worry about international tournaments (how many 'world events' has the US really won ... and how much does it bother them, really)?
So, what about the Olympic medals and the World Cups?
Well, they were always meant to be byproducts. Nations (read as "humans") did not start playing once these tournaments came into place. Humans have been playing anyway, and these tournaments were just a byproduct of many nations playing the same sport. It's a different matter that they have become a symbol of pride and honor ... but any project that aims to "win a World Cup before 20XX" or "get a few Gold medals by 20YY" is slated to go down the drain ... just like any human function which worries about the "fruits" ... rather than the "actions".
And where's the infrastructure to do these 'local' sports?
It's all around us. We all know how much we used them. To cite just on example: I am currently piling on with my friends in the posh "Raheja Vihar" apartments in Mumbai's Powai. It's got all the sports infra you need - badminton courts, table tennis facilities, pool tables, swimming pools, gyms etc. etc. But here's the "helooOOooo" news ... : their club-house is used by not more than 5% of the total resident population. Even lesser by kids.
It's anyone's guess as to when these facilities will fail to justify the opportunity costs of having them there ... and one more sports facility in Mumbai will find it's place in the oblivion.
For other cities ... the frame is still picturesque. Every residential society in Bangalore has access to such facilities ... but the more I observe them, the more I find that they are vastly under utilized. Children are either working on their homework, or playing video games ... or worse still, they are busy listening to songs on their papa's laptops! Housewives are just too busy with the 'K'-entertainment ... while the small percentage of male that is fitness conscious attends the gym.
As far as I can see ... it's the infra that is being under-utilized ... against the contrary (which is always suggested as the prime reason for India's laziness in sports). That's why I wonder if TransStadia will ever come even close to getting us a gold medal in the Olympics of 2020 by bringing some world class infrastructure!
That said .... I can't care much for the World Cups and Olympic medals anyway. Not just because they are, as I said, just 'byproducts' ... but also because I got a chance to come close to one of those yesterday! Tessa showed us her 1984 Gold medal ... and I got to see it from less than a couple of feet away!
That's what made my day :)
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Comments
Thanks, Pritam! What's 'local sports' like in your city, if you know?
I agree with almost everything you say, very nice post!
Thanks, M! I can imagine who you are :P
When I was standing on the sidelines listening to these people speak, all I could think was of the automobile revolution that Henry Ford brought to his country. The way I comprehend it is ... TransStadia would have to work on a multitude of other factors apart from infra building ... only then will it make real business sense to them. That's the part I missed hearing yesterday ... but hopefully it's in their plans.
The other factors will be things like local leagues (season long), infra-based sports tourism, anciallary sports marketing. That will add to the business of the infra.
It's been years, and only recently have Chelsea been able to justify their ownership of the Stamford Bridge. This is acres of land right in the heart of London ... and normally used once in 15 days (for a home match). The rest 14 days of infrastrucutre were being reduced to waste (in terms of revenue inflow and opportunity cost). What they did to reverse that is what TransStadia will have to do ...
It would also be good to understand some numbers belonging to the current infrastructure facilities that we have. For instance, for how many days a year is the Chinnaswamy stadium used really? May be 30. Let's assume it's 65. Is the stadium then used by Bangaloreans for the rest 300 days? Should TransStadia take it's infra-management expertise to such places and enhance their utility first ... before building many more Chinnaswamies around the country. They already have a PPP in place ... so accessing Chinnaswamy management shouldn't be a tough proposition.
If the managers in TransStadia can't find a solution to this kind of utility problem first, and prove it to their Board by actually turning a place like Eden Gardens around ... I would have to say that they are in the process of making the proverbial white elephants.
You are right I agree to some of your points.
I would just like to add to this stadium making company is involved in making State of Art Infrastructure and the best part of their manufacturing ideas is to increase Space Utility what we are not getting after spending millions on Sports Infrastructure. I am looking at Shri Shiv Chatrapati Shivaji sports complex popularly known as Balewadi Sports complex in Pune since I was in Standard VI. There was grass growing (upto the level of our waistlines) on the Tennis court one year after National Games in 2004. The stadium was initially build for National Games 2004 for crores of rupees and the re made for Commonwealth Youth Games for Multi Crore.
I see this company as someone coordinating Public Pvt Partnerships and I would add Sponsorships.
Following this
1. Public Role- In our city Master Plans the the Govt has approved land for Parks/Sports Complexes etc. (which is usually encroached), Govt plays a role providing the land and providing 50% of the amount required for building the stadium (from MP, MLA, JNNRUM scheme or Blah blah funds)
2. Private - Naming rights for the facility, or part naming rights eg. Kokila Ben Ambani Stand or Ratan Tata Stadium raises some 25%- 30 % of the amount. The rest of the money comes as an investment either in the form of loan etc etc.
The stadiums are Multipurpose, hence will not be white elephants in the future.
I would see the company involved in making stadiums as: someone who wants to build arenas which can be used for Sports and entertainment by managing public private sponsorship and thereby making their profits. As you would know making multi purpose areas will be useful for a city where property prices are soaring.
And to build this notion they need to explain to the public that Sports is important (give all the gyan on sports), However India doesn’t have Infrastructure therefore we are playing an important in building it.
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