News & Events:

The need for physical education and a well-designed sports curriculum in schools - Times of India - Delhi - 22/03/2010 (click the image to view a larger readable picture)

Startups to have a field day - Economic Times - 19/03/2010 (click here to read direct link)

Once, sport was solely about blood, sweat, grit and honour. Sportspersons personified the loftiest ideals of life. Sport had conventional connotations—representing the country, winning for national pride, spirit of the game, patriotism and the works. Emotions rode high, even if the money wasn’t there.

But the Indian Premier League (IPL) changed all that in India. Sport became about creating properties which command great value in the media and entertainment space. Old notions are ceasing to exist and the change in outlook is ushering in a new dimension in sport today: private participation.

The opportunities are vast and scattered across sectors. Fields such as talent management, talent spotting, software development, development of IT platforms, sporting infrastructure, legal services and many more are waiting to be explored by entrepreneurs. Most encouraging of all is the mushrooming of startups, which affirms the business potential waiting to be unlocked in sports.

The last three-four years have witnessed a good number of startups in the sports sector. And what’s better, they are targeting sports beyond cricket— “alternative sports” like hockey or swimming, where chances of success are greater.

Take 37-year old Saumil Majmudar for instance. The IIT, IIM pass-out worked in the private sector for a long time before deciding to become an entrepreneur. Six years down the line, Majmudar incorporated EduSports, a Bangalore-based physical education (PE) curriculum company. “A majority of schools keep time aside for physical education, but do not have the wherewithal to implement it. We design and implement PE programmes right from the kindergarten level, up to class XII.

Essentially, schools can outsource the PE activities to us,” he says. The company was incorporated in January 2009 and has grown from serving 15,000 students in the first year to 35,000 already, this academic year (2010-11). “Our attempt is to make education more holistic. Sport has a great potential in changing the way a child learns and thinks,” says Majmudar, who feels the IPL has revolutionised private sector participation in sporting events.

The opportunities will lie in creating leagues like IPL, apart from talent spotting and creating infrastructure viathe PPP route, he says, adding, “Earlier, sports was entertainment, now it is a business.” Agreed, but this is perhaps the best time to be in this business. A number of big-ticket events are being held in India.

After the recently-concluded International Hockey World Cup, there is Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, the cricket World Cup next year and Chennai Open in tennis. Plus, on the consumption side, there is huge traction, given the growing sport appetite of Indian masses.

This is being recognised even by organisations like the NBA, which is targeting India as the next big market after China and has launched a dedicated India website. The English Premier League’s soccer clubs aren’t far behind. Arsenal has launched an academy in India, while Liverpool is reported to be contemplating something similar. Their arch-rivals, Manchester United, have introduced Man U lounges in India.

The importance of being fit - The Hindu - 18/03/2010 (click here to read direct link)

The programme focusses on five specific skills — “locomotive, manipulative, movement concepts, body management skills, and rhythmic skills. We also put them through the basics of all sports. The syllabus and tasks are modelled around these skills. The tasks and the props increase in complexity and size with the student's age. We provide parents with fitness measurement reports, so they can monitor the child's progress”.

The programme has found favour among a number of schools in smaller cities and districts. EduSports began SOAR by tying up with two schools in Madurai last June. “We've added more schools thereafter, and are looking at a target of 70-80 schools by June, across the country. The response has been very good in Tier 2 cities, and bigger cities are also open to the idea. In Chennai, we're working with PSBB, and are looking at tying up with at least five more by June.”

Improving skills

Khaleeq expressed the confidence that more schools would embrace the idea and introduce the programme. “It is well known that physical activity improves blood circulation to the brain. A combination of academic and physical education works so much better in improving cognitive skills and enhancing social behaviour. An increased emphasis on physical education only proves beneficial.”

Finding moolah is name of the game - Economic Times - 14/03/2010 (click here to read direct link)

“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.

EduSports offers holistic education - Trinity Mirror - Chennai - 12/03/2010(click the image to view a larger readable picture)