Olympics, India and Scope for private participation

Vivek and I were discussing yesterday about the sad state of affairs relating to sports in India.

Bindra's gold medal was due to his own volition and support from his family in the form of finances and moral support. It was no was thanks to the government (although they shamelessly bask in Bindra's glory) or any of the sports bodies sponsored by the government. This is widely known. The sports bodies in India are riddled with politics and cannot rise above the petty self-serving interests of its officials. The government doesn't have the vision to provide our athletes with world class facilities nor does it have the gumption to set right the corrupt sports officials of India.

However, we predicted that a few things might happen in the next 8 years. Since India is now reckoned an economic powerhouse and is constantly compared with China, it is but inevitable that comparisons will start between our medal tallies too. Once a large number of our citizens are able to lead a healthy normal life and can afford to devote their time to other issues, they will start questioning the incompetence of our athletes and therefore of the sports officials. At the international level too we will made "fun" of (Yes, I use the word fun because the situation there is nothing different from that of a 6^th standard classroom – refer my earlier post on this). So ultimately the government will be shamed and pressured into creating world class athletes from hamara bharat.

It is funny that all the reforms in our country are done either when the government has been pressured to the extreme and has its back against the wall or it is plain shamed into doing it. And I think this attitude percolates down to its citizens in general (or perhaps it is because of the same citizens).

Anyway, moving on.

However, the above is not in our control and can only be speculated upon. What about private participation – the seeming panacea* for all the country's ills. We discussed about how the corrupt sports officials could be sidestepped. If corporations would come forward and sponsor select athletes, wouldn't that benefit the whole situation? A company could sponsor and train an athlete and reap all the rewards after a couple of Olympics have passed? But this is not attractive for a private player as the upfront investments are too high, the returns long term and very uncertain. Let's not treat this from a charity point of view (I personally hate charity, I think it ruins people and nations).

What if independent sports bodies run by private players were to come up? These sports bodies would just own facilities for some/various sports and offer these services to the willing athletes. This offering would obviously have to subsidized in the beginning because most athletes would not be able to afford them. In return the private bodies can sign in a substantial portion of the winnings of the athlete and also own the rights to any subsequent sponsorship deals or any other revenue mechanism arising from the victories. After investing in say, 20 athletes even if 1 athlete begins to perform at the world stage, it will pay off for the private body. Such victories will prove to be publicity for the private body and it will be able to attract more quality athletes. In essence the private body can viewed as a VC (venture capitalist) who is undertaking a huge risk by investing in these athletes. He knows most of them won't perform, but even if 1 person clicks, their day is made. And they don't have to wait for 4 years to start seeing returns. There are enough international competitions besides the Olympics and Olympics will be the Big Cahuna.

Assuming several such firms, the firms will actually be competing to sponsor athletes and athletes will have the luxury of choosing a firm which will train them for free! Observing a huge supply of quality training more people will be inspired to come forward and slowly the firms too can be choosy about the athletes they take in for training. It will turn into a virtuous cycle and hopefully generate world class athletes who can bring glory to our nation.

Amen to that. And Jai Hind !

Credit: Vivek for part of the idea process.