Finding moolah is name of the game

Entrepreneurs see opportunities as Indian interest in sports scores goals

The year 2010 is the year of big sporting action, says Udit Sheth. And he’s ready to grab the opportunity with his startup firm Transstadia, which invests in developing sports infrastructure across the country. The company is setting up a world-class Rs 200 cr stadium in Ahmedabad along with the Gujarat government and also plans to set up 11 more across the country over the next few years. This is probably the first such private-sector venture to take the risk of jumping into creation of sports infrastructure which requires big financial muscle as well as government backing to succeed. The young entrepreneur has taken the leap of faith and wants to monetise this opportunity.
    
As India becomes a big player in the global arena, the appetite for sports other than cricket too is growing. And with fitness becoming the mantra across the country, people across demographics—young, middle-aged and old— are looking for options to remain physically active. They are pushing their kids to play and sometimes even choose sports as a career option. “For the first time kids and parents are actually starting to think of a career in sports other than cricket. Golf is definitely considered lucrative because of the huge sums of money won by Indian golfers,” says ace golfer Rishi Narain, managing director of Rishi Narain Golf Management, which designs golf courses and also organises golf events for corporates and individuals.
    
“There is no denying that this is a good time to be in sports,” says Harish Krishnamachari, vicepresident of sports marketing firm World Sports Group. This new found interest is throwing up business opportunities like never before and entrepreneurs are lapping them up. They are setting up businesses in areas ranging from talent and event management, sports marketing, and infrastructure to training, coaching, sports tourism and sports medicine.
    
Tennis ace Mahesh Bhupati set up Globosport in 2002, venturing into the athlete management space. The company has now entered the business of tennis training, sports infrastructure and talent management. “I started Globosport to bring professionalism to athlete management, having been exposed to how international agencies operate. Back in 2002-03, there were just two companies in the segment, which meant Globosport had the opportunity to set standards in the business,” says Bhupati.
    
Over the years, as more and more icons have emerged in sports beyond cricket—Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, Abhinav Bindra—sports management has picked up. Anirban Das Blah, the ex-CEO of Globosport, quit in 2008 to set up his own company KWAN on the same lines. KWAN works in the celebrity management space including endorsements, music, fashion and sports. “Outside of cricket, the emerging opportunities are in basketball, F1 and football and we are actively pushing these,” he says.
    
A number of sports businesses today are realising that there is tremendous opportunity even away from cricket. Take for example, sports infrastructure. Private sector has stayed away from this sector because there was no business model to make money out of it, especially non-cricket. But Transstadia’s model, says Sheth, is a gamechanger.
    
“Using our technology, we can do a lot more with one facility for sports and non-sports events. These will be community buildings, not just sports stadiums,” says Sheth. The plan is to use one stadium for 10 different sports and also for entertain-ment, hospitality and running a sports academy. “If each of these are run efficiently, the facility will pay back,” he adds. The company design the stadiums, and manages them too. It contracts infrastructure companies to build the facility. Sheth explains that these facilities can work only if the government partners and provides land.
    
In the infrastructure space, there is an opportunity to build 60 multi-purpose stadiums at an average cost of Rs 200 crore, excluding cost of land, says Sheth. “It is an opportunity but developing infrastructure needs a lot of money backing which needs big corporate support,” says Krishnamachari.
   
There is opportunity today in talent scouting as well. Think about it. Who would athlete management companies manage or who would play at the new stadiums if there was no new talent. Nandan Kamath spotted the opportunity and set up GoSports to focus purely on the talent side. “This is where the biggest gap is in India. We identify talent, work on getting government funding, entries into tournaments, training, getting sponsorship,” says Kamath. And again, this company too is thinking beyond cricket and is targeting Olympic disciplines.
    
Going a level further is EduSports, which is trying to provide holistic learning through sports at schools. Soumil Majmudar set up EduSports a year and a half back and it is already handling physical education programmes at 30 schools, dealing with 15,000 children a day. “Our logic is clear. Today children are not playing enough. They need to play. Sports is a very important part of their education and upbringing. It teaches them values like teamwork and leadership which cannot be taught in a classroom,” says Majmudar. Through their specially designed curriculum, they help schools improve sports programmes. “We create age appropriate curriculum’s,” he adds.
    
As more sportspersons compete at the at higher levels, there is a growing opportunity for setting up sports medicine clinics, says Dr Mandeep Singh Dhillon, professor, department of Orthopaedics at PGI-MER, Chandigarh. “Today, all sports want sports injury specialists. A sports injury cannot be treated as a regular injury,” he says.
    
Over the years, many a sportsmen have turned entrepreneurs and explored opportunities in the sector that they know best, sports. Kapil Dev set up Dev Musco Lighting which does stadium lighting across the country. “I always wanted to do a business connected with sports. We have done lighting for hockey, cricket and tennis stadiums,” says Dev. Legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble runs StumpVision, a sports data analysis firm, with his brother Dinesh Kumble. Till about four years back, wicket keeper Kiran More ran a company which made cricket helmets. He is now on the board of Cutting Edge Events which offers sports travel options. It is the official tour operator for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and is also bringing in people for the IPL this year. “I see a huge opportunity in the sports tourism business. Indians are getting interested in watching all kinds of sports,” he says. The point to be noted is that opportunities beyond cricket are starting to emerge. There is no doubt that cricket still brings in the moolah and IPL has created a totally different paradigm but it is encouraging to see entrepreneurs think out-of-the-box.