“ पढोगे लिखोगे बनोगे नवाब ,जो तुम खेलोगे कूदोगे बनोगे ख़राब ”

We have all grew up hearing the above words from our parents and everyone around us. According to a study, 93% of Indian students are only aware of 7 career options – Engineering, Medicine, Law, Management, Design, Accounts, and Computer Applications. Various factors in Indian society propel students to take up these options. There might be parental pressure, financial constraints or constant mindset of people to get placed safely. But now the time has changed, students are opting for other career options beyond the above ones whether that be music, dance, sports, or anything else. Let's peek a little into the Sports Industry, what are the options it provides, and how it has evolved.

In the last couple of decades, India has seen some great development in sports. It started with India winning the NatWest trophy in 2002, at Lords which remains a golden page in Indian cricket. What followed is much more satisfying. The 2007 T20 world cup, the 2011 One Day World Cup, Abhinav Bindra winning gold at Beijing Olympics. In the 2012 London Olympics, India showed its best performance with 6 individual medals. And not only this, India saw the rise of Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Sushil Kumar, the Phogat sisters, and the list goes on in the International arena.

The world of sports also saw the advent of science & technology, where the performance of a player became the factor of multiple variables. Earlier it was only the practice, which was being considered. But the innovation this sector saw, such as fitness, fat content, a cholesterol level of the players were checked regularly, and not only this, all the game plays were analyzed deeply by going through the recorded videos. This took the game to a completely next level. And gave rise to a completely different world -  Sports Analytics. There was a sudden demand for professionals to do the analyzing work. The team and players also started hiring well-trained individuals. Many institutions in India and abroad started providing professional courses for the same.

When sports upgraded itself, the sports boards and the business world foresaw a great opportunity. The opportunity to level up the qualified talents and also to have a good profit-making business model. Which gave birth to franchisee sports. Though this concept was old, the primary example being the historic English Premier League.

But in India, this was first seen when the BCCI started the IPL in 2008. Later on, this became a yearly festival in India. The rise of IPL opened space for other sports to try their luck. Then came ISL (Football), PBL (Badminton), PKL (Kabaddi), HIL (Hockey), and even state boards started their leagues. This not only provided the young players to showcase their talent, but also opened doors for other aspects like – Back end support, Field operations manager, Sponsorship manager, Stadium In-charge, and other management and marketing-related activities. Not only this, other careers like HR Management, Accounts, and Finances, Public Relations, and various other professionals became the basic requirement for these franchises.

People who once dreamt to have a career in the field of sports but unfortunately they could not make it through it. And with so many opportunities coming up, it opened multiple doors for them to follow their passion and have a career in sports marketing & management.

For the students, who are willing to have a career in this domain, the opportunities are marvelous. Because this is such an industry where the demand-supply curve is the reverse. The demand remains huge but individuals who are pursuing or want to pursue this as a career are limited.