India, a nation of 1.1 billion people, has been always disproportionately unsuccessful at the Olympics. At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, host country China picked up 100 medals (51 golds), even a small country like Belarus managed 19 medals to India’s one gold, and two bronze — its highest tally ever¹. India’s ratio of medal tally to wealth(GDP) is a mere 0.0001¹⁹. The main reason attributed to this is India is a one sport nation. People of India treat cricket as a religion, as their fifth Veda, akin to a national game though it is not, thanks to its Board, Government, sponsors and the media. IPL, a new and exciting brand of Cricket has proved an enormous success raking in 10,790 crore². But it has achieved this at the cost of other sports.

Economics of IPL

IPL bagged $714 million from sale of franchisee rights, $1.02 billion for sale of broadcast rights and $ 42 million for title sponsorship ³. Add to these the individual sponsorships for each team, the figure is mind-boggling. “IPL as a format and venture presents an opportunity for involvement which runs deeper than mere sponsorship” says a Reliance Official.⁴ “I invested in cricket because there was an opportunity available. I think investment in sports should come through a sensible business plan. I think a lot needs to be done for propagating sports among youth.” said Shah Rukh Khan. ⁵ IPL is a very commercialized venture whereas Olympic Games are played for the sake of national pride. So the Government and private sponsors have to provide the funding for development of these sports.

What makes IPL so attractive

The huge stakes involved in IPL has attracted the imagination of Indian masses like never before and any youngster who watches this is more likely to engage himself in cricket rather than other sports. The maximum remuneration for any player is around $1.6 million. The quantum of money involved can alone be the most dominant motivating factor for a youngster to pursue cricket. The close interaction of the entry level cricketers with international and star players acts as additional motivation factor to work hard and improve their competitiveness. The unavailability of such attractive options in other sports is attributed to the preoccupation of Indians to cricket.

Cricket-obsessed media

IPL-2 got TRP rating of 4.17⁷ while Neo Cricket, a Cricket-only channel has clocked healthy TRP ratings of 5.49⁷. Contrast this with the Olympics Broadcaster Doordarshan which got a mere Rs. 41 crore as revenues⁸. Obsessive attention given to cricket reduces the time given to other sports like hockey where India has rich Olympic record. Saina Nehwal rues that news channels cover even the birthday parties of young cricketers whereas little attention is given to other sports.¹⁸

Multiple world billiards champion Geet Sethi, a multiple Billiards World Champion remarks about IPL, “The fanatical obsession called cricket has just joined hands with the film world to create a new pastime (I consciously refrain from calling it sport) where it will gain even further visibility and media hype fuelled by both cricket and Bollywood. This in turn will almost certainly divert sponsorship which could have gone to disciplines with a genuine chance of winning India that Olympic gold.” ⁹

Lalit Bhanot, secretary of India’s athletics body, believes the IPL will impact other disciplines in the long run. “Sponsors will like to partner the premier cricket league for visibility; it will no doubt affect all other sports in terms of funding.” ⁹

Instances of other sports getting overshadowed by Cricket

A bronze medal by Karnam Malleswari during Sydney Olympics 2000 for weightlifting, the win by Gopichand in 2001 in All England Badminton Championship were all overshadowed by cricketing feats of Harbhajan Singh when he took a hat trick, Anil Kumble’s 10 wicket haul and VVS Laxman’s 281 against Australia¹⁰. Indian hockey players had to go on a hunger strike in order to voice their opinion about equality in compensation when the Indian cricket team won the T20 World cup. ¹¹

BCCI and the Government’s initiatives

India now provides between 60% and 80% of world cricket revenues.¹² IPL has been such a hit that $225 million has been set as the base price for franchises in the forthcoming IPL¹³. BCCI has announced that it would grant the All India Football Federation (AIFF) a sum of $5 million for the development of Indian football. ¹⁴ It is however a tiny share as compared to cricket’s budget.

The Indian Government has started taking measures recently to recognize the importance and uplift the other sports in the following ways¹⁵:

• Scheme for preparation of indian teams in all disciplines for commonwealth games intiated
• Pension to medal winners doubled
• Sports and games disciplines which are affordable and involve mass participation like hockey, football, volleyball, basketball etc. were upgraded to ‘Priority’ status entitling them for increased financial assistance.

However given the lucrative offers of IPL, sportsmen are less likely to be attracted to other sports.

It’s an unequal world

Let’s face it. Everything in this world is unequal. Sponsors will support sports that sell. They are not for charity. Media will only focus on things that will gain them higher TRP ratings. Fans will be more for a sport in which the country keeps winning. Attractive prizes given in IPL and the riches that the board rakes in are as per law of nature. Or is it really?

Like in Business, in sports also monopoly is unhealthy. It is plain cruel if worthy sportsmen are denied Olympic medals due to lack of support. So Government has to carefully avoid the monopoly of cricket and steer the funds and infrastructure towards other sports. Australian Government is able to successfully grow a culture of sports and though Australia performs well in Cricket, it comes within top 5 in Olympics. The same cannot be said about India because Government does not encourage other sports like Australia does. In Australia, there are tremendous incentives for students to pursue sports as a career like scholarships in sports, coaching facilities, importance given to sports that is equivalent to academics, funding from government and other sources, university and state level training facilities in the form of sports complexes. In India, the Indian Athletes Training centres are not sufficient in getting to the grassroots. Anju George says: “If an Indian manages to win a medal in Olympics, it will be only because of her hard work and not due to any help from the government authorities.”¹⁶Moreover, recognition is given only when a player wins a major tournament.

Issues plaguing Indian Olympics

Appalled at the lack of infrastructure, independent groups like Olympic Gold Quest have come up with measures to support talented athletes and provide them with funds and infrastructure³⁴.  However, such support structures are limited to a few sportsmen.

Indian athletes have won a total of only 17 medals so far.”I don’t think we’ve got the infrastructure to keep building champions like other countries do,” Bhupathi said¹⁷. “Countries with much smaller populations, like Croatia, or Germany, etc, they’ve got the right coaches, the right training, they’ve got teams travelling with sports psychologists,” he said. “We lack quality coaches in India. Our coaches are just good enough for the beginners,” says shooter Manavjit Singh¹⁸. “The system is slow and lethargic. Everything takes a lot of time to materialize. It requires a lot of effort to get anything done,” says Anjali, the former World No. 1 shooter¹⁸.

The way forward

If good infrastructure, coaching and funding are provided for other sports, more people will be attracted towards other sports and there will be all-round development.  When people start winning, more interest will be generated and more successes will follow – Chess in India is a case in point. This will force the media to cover other sports.

Moreover, average middle class parents in India stress their kids to focus academically because it guarantees them a career. If sports is developed as a viable alternative, this stress will go down and more Olympic medals are possible. The riches in IPL has made Indians believe that it is an alternative career option. But the other sports do not inspire such belief yet.

Conclusion

Soccer rules Europe while Basketball rules USA. But these countries have been careful not to let any one sport completely dominate other sports. India should also make sure that IPL, in general Cricket, does not overshadow its Olympic dreams. No matter how successful IPL gets it cannot equal the national pride when an Indian is awarded the Olympic Gold medal. IPL, though it does not directly affect other sports, its growth has proved to be another nail in India’s Olympic coffin. IPL is commercialising sports and growing at a frenetic pace. If action is not taken to revive other sports, it will spell the death knell of India’s Olympic dreams.