Indian sport is clearly on an upswing. We are playing host to the BWF World Championships, and crores have been spent on upgrading the venue. The Khelo India budget has increased exponentially, from ₹3,000 crore to ₹30,000 crore. Each IPL team is now a billion-dollar enterprise, while Commonwealth Games medal winners are increasingly becoming top earners, with state governments and corporates showering them with rewards.
Much of this, however, is reactive. After you win, people take notice and reward you with money. That’s the general norm.
Why RCB and RR have become case studies is because they were relatively small investments that have now yielded a 20X upside. From ₹400 crore to ₹18,000 crore is a crazy story. That’s the potential sport has demonstrated. While the IPL is indeed an aberration, sport can surely be a strong investment option.
So, what are the three sports properties that I think are growth propositions for the next decade? Which ones can increase in value and become strong revenue earners?
The first I would suggest is para sport.
India is only just waking up to para sport, and anyone looking to get into sports management or athlete management should seriously consider this domain. Cricket, or rather men’s cricket, is a cluttered space and the initial investment is huge. Para sport, by contrast, is still a relatively virgin field, with very little research or deep-dive analysis.
And yet, if an athlete makes it big, there are serious opportunities out there. If a company had invested in Sharmila Dhankar ahead of the CWG, it would have made serious returns on its investment today. Sharmila, as we speak, is shooting for KBC.
India stands to win 100-plus medals at the Para Asian Games, and once again, new stars will be born. For brands, this is the time to act. They need to be proactive rather than reactive and back the sport early. That investment can yield serious returns in the long run.
In cricket, I would say Test Twenty is a very worthy investment proposition.
The initial outlay is modest at the moment, and the property ticks all the right boxes. Equality is at its core, and it is a leveller in the sense that it calls for teams comprising both men and women. Joint leadership is a seriously attractive proposition, while the fact that you have both red-ball and white-ball cricket on the same day in Test Twenty makes it a true disruptor.
It is a serious punt, and a calculated one at that. With the likes of Clive Lloyd, Matthew Hayden, Rajkumar Sharma, AB de Villiers and Gaurav Bahirvani behind the concept, you know there is credibility and vision. That’s what makes it a really attractive business proposition.
The final property where I see a real investment opportunity is shooting.
It is certainly India’s go-to medal sport at the Asian Games and the Olympics. If India is to win 10-plus medals at LA28, shooting will have to deliver half of them. And with the talent available, that is a realistic target.
Can shooting yield returns in the long run? A sure yes.
And that’s why it is yet another strong investment opportunity.
Follow Revsportz for latest sports news
The post Three Sports Properties That Could Be India’s Next Big Investment Bets appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.
