Video: Indian basketball scholarship recipients at IMG Academy

In mid-September 2010, 8 young basketball players between the ages of 13-14 were recruited by the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida on a scholarship programme to begin a year of growth and training among world class coaches, facilities, programs and sports camps. The basketball players were amongst a group of 29 kids in various sports, and were the first group of students to benefit from the IMG-Reliance Scholarship Program. The program is part of a greater initiative of IMG Reliance Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture between IMG Worldwide and Reliance Industries.

IMG Basketball Academy Director Andy Borman and coach Dan Barto traveled to India to evaluate the basketball talent and pick the eight youngsters. The boys have joined the IMG Academy developmental team and are coached by Nate Vander Sluis, former Division I four-year letterman for Miami of Ohio University. The girls are coached by Shell Dailey, former University of Texas player and WNBA coach.

The Indian youngsters include 14-year-old Punjabi seven footer Satnam Singh Bhamara, who has turned heads all over the country with his potential and great play. Here is a video featuring him and the rest of the youngsters at practice at the academy, and it features interviews with the coaches.

The players are - Boys: Satnam Singh Bhamara, Sanjeev Kumar, Dinesh Mishra, Ashiv Jain. Girls: Pooja Ambistha, A. Kavita, Soumya Babbar, Barkha Sonkar.

India to have a professional basketball league

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BREAKING NEWS!!! It's official - the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has teamed up with the IMG Reliance venture to develop basketball in the country, and most importantly, develop a professional basketball league in India similar to the American NBA or the Chinese CBL.

I have been giddy with joy ever since I read this news! Three months ago, Reliance Industries, led by India's wealthiest Mukesh Ambani partnered with US-based sports marketing company IMG Worldwide in a joint venture to build sports facilities in India. The sports model that they set out to create was meant to "be similar to the one followed in mature sports and entertainment markets such as the US". IMG Worldwide is a sports management company and talent agency, who have been involved with sports promotion in the US for several years.

The agreement between BFI and IMG Reliance has been signed for 30 years.

From SportzPower:

The initiative is poised to significantly impact the competitive level of the sport and enhance the pool of talent in the country. The deal will see IMG Reliance assisting BFI on financial, promotional and technical aspects. As part of the agreement, the BFI has granted IMG Reliance commercial rights relating to basketball in India, including sponsorship, advertising, broadcasting, merchandising, film, video and data, intellectual property, franchising and new league rights. The highlight of the agreement is expected to be the development of a professional basketball league in India in which players from around the globe will compete alongside Indian players, similar to the CBL in China. A critical element of the new initiative will be the development of world class infrastructure in India to support the effort, including the construction of new arenas and training facilities.
In line with its focus on developing the game at the grassroots level, IMG Reliance will advise the BFI regarding the organization and management of school and college leagues throughout the country. This will create a platform to develop and augment the talent pool of young men and women, enhance their opportunities to compete internationally, and successfully represent India on the world stage.
Talking about the deal, BFI secretary general Harish Sharma said, “We cannot mention the finances of the deal but IMG reliance would be supporting all the programmes BFI would be conducting across the country.”

“IMG Reliance would be commercially supporting our school/college leagues, championships etc. They will also be helping in gradation of the players where in the top players will get financial support to play the game. International expertise will be brought in to India to promote the game. As a long term plan, they also plan to promote a professional league in future,” he added.
“This is a step to promote and popularise the game in India. IMG is a global company and will surely help us in making the sport the second most popular sport in a few years,” he added.
"We are working towards kicking off the leagues at the onset of the sporting calendar in the country," Sharma further added.

Commenting on the development, Andrew Wildblood, IMG Reliance said, "The game of basketball is one of the most popular spectator sports across the world. With the active support and participation from the Basketball Federation of India, we will work to take the sport to the next level. IMG Reliance will leverage IMG's unparalleled experience of developing sporting leagues and talent development to make basketball in India a commercially exciting sporting proposition with a large fan base.

IMG Reliance also plans to establish sporting academies in India, modeled on the world renowned IMG Academies at Bradenton, Florida, to provide athlete and coach training in the country.

The BFI's partnership with IMG Reliance will not be interfering with the grass-roots efforts of growing the game in the country, particularly that of Mahindra's partnership with the NBA for the Mahindra-NBA Challenge. I think it's great that we have two big companies competing in the basketball realm in the country: more competition = more money, and more money will be directly proportional to the rise of basketball in India.

Basketball is already one of the fastest growing sports in India - and as the interest grows, we now have to make sure that our coaches and management provide the right guidance to the future generation of ballers to make sure that there talent responds to the financial growth in the game.

The best way for things to improve is if several efforts continue to work parallel to each other, and I can see many things happening around the country now. The Mastan League in Mumbai made headlines for first introducing a short professional-type league in the city. The NBA has been increasing its interest in India over the past few years, promoting the game (and itself) via the Mahindra League, infrastructural growth, player development, commercial development, and others. American coaches like JD Walsh, Bob Baker, and Craig Esherick have been to the country to train coaches and players, and Walsh continues to train Indian coaches in achieving a high level of basketball knowledge.

And now, with IMG Reliance taking a positive step into the frame, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Indian basketball fans. Time to get the next generation of hoopsters ready, because before we know it, we're going to have full-time basketball professionals in India!

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Indian Basketball: The Corporate Takeover

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In the last few months, first there was Mahindra teaming up with the NBA to promote the Mahindra-NBA Challenge. Then there was Reliance who teamed up with US-based sports marketing company IMG Worldwide to develop sports facilities and leagues in India. Now, with the appointment of United Phosphorus Limited (UPL) CEO Jaidev Shroff as the president of the Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA), it seems that another large corporation has joined the race to profit through sports, and specifically, basketball.

The MSBA unanimously elected Shroff as president recently. Shroff has been supporting several sporting events in different fields for the past 15 years. This will be a crucial time for Shroff to take over the MSBA helm as basketball is growing at an unprecendent rate in Maharashtra and in Mumbai (which was crowned as India's Basketball City on this site).

Shroff has a corporate background, and the UPL has been supporting two annual basketball tournaments in Mumbai - the Ramu Memorial Tournament and the Savio Cup.

From SportzPower.com:

Commenting on this situation, MSBA Secretary M Venkatesh, said, “Maharashtra has been a strong hub for basketball. With the National Basketball Association (NBA) lending its might in promoting the game, the MSBA is eager to utilise this opportunity to further strengthen the game. The Association will focus on the grass root level, increase the participation of athletes as well as train talented players to increase the overall standard of the game in Maharashtra.”
Laying down his vision, Shroff said, “The responsibility is huge, but I'm sure I will get the complete support from all office bearers to promote basketball.”

Shroff stated that the involvement of corporate houses in the decision-making process of sports administration is good news for Indian sports and would take it to a new horizon. "The UPL Group has always supported the sports in India by offering scholarships to deserving students and we will continue to do so in the future."

One of the future (perhaps exciting) plans for the UPL with the MSBA is to introduce the 'Hoop-A-Loop League' - not really sure what it is, but it will be played in the weekends in Mumbai.

Led by the commercially super-succesful IPL, India seems to have truly woken up to the business of sport. I'll quote Abhaya Srivastava from his recent article on this growing phenomenon: "For many the success of the IPL was a symbol of the new India -- an emerging economic powerhouse, pumped up with self-confidence and aspiring to assert itself in the global arena." Srivastava goes on to say that allegations of corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in the IPL have tarnished the sports/business relationship a little bit, but I don't believe that it is enough to stop this expanding snowball. The IPL will survive the scandal and continue successfully, and from the looks of it, other corporations will continue to see green in sports, too.

Has the time truly arrived for India to take sports seriously? When I say 'seriously', I mean in the only way that really matters for a sport's promotion, through money. Mahindra, Reliance, UPL... these are all big companies with big money to potentially invest in basketball. Forget about our socialist beginnings, India is now an uber-capitalist country where to really make it you have to make it by yourself. No government is going to be there to hold your hand through it. I have been a staunch believer that success stories in India have really come despite the government, and this belief holds in the case of basketball, too.

There is of course the ugly, annoying negative side. We have all seen it happen with the IPL. Advertisements during ball breaks, commercial breaks interrupting crucial replays, a six being called a DLF-Maximum and (well respected) commentators being obliged to mention the MRF-blimp every chance they get. It's tragic to see when celebrities are celebrated more than cricketers. Capitalism in sport is a double-edged sword, because if corporates decide to sell-out basketball the same way they did with T-20 cricket it would popularise the game to a wider audience but simultaneously take the focus and soul away from the game itself.

There needs to be a sensitive balance between commercialisation and maintaining the soul of the game, and the next few years could be very telling in the growth of basketball in India.

Do you agree with Shroff? Is the involvement of corporate houses in the decision making of sports, and in our particular case, basketball, a good move for Indian sports?

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Reliance and IMG to develop sports facilities and league in India

Closely following on the news that the Mahindra Group will be partnering the NBA to launch a recreational basketball league in three Indian cities, here's another corporate venture in expanding sports not named "cricket" in India: Reliance Industries, led by India's wealthiest Mukesh Ambani is partnering with US-based sports marketing company IMG Worldwide in a joint venture to build sports facilities in India.

IMG-Reliance will also develop professional basketball and football leagues in India, nurture young talent at the academies, and train coaches in these sports as well.

From the Business Standard:

The new company, IMG Reliance, would set up sports facilities across the country to train athletes, thus developing the sports market. The model would be similar to the one followed in mature sports and entertainment markets such as the US. The companies plan to create and operate major sports and entertainment assets.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries, said: "Development of sports and the sporting culture is a social imperative for India in the 21st century. World-class infrastructure, frugal engineering, technology and scientific coaching are an integral part of development of today's sporting talent globally."

Plans are underway to create an agency to offer 360-degree sports management to celebrities from the world of sports, Bollywood and fashion. IMG would transfer its existing business and assets in the country to the joint venture. These include the Aircel Chennai Open, the Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour event and Lakmé Fashion Week.
However, the ongoing Indian Premier League would stay with IMG and the company's international business and executive team is to manage it.
Ted Forstmann, chairman and CEO of IMG, said: "The performance of Indian athletes on the national and international stage will improve dramatically with the correct development strategies. As a consequence, the commercial performance of sport and entertainment in India will be enhanced."

To quote an article from the The Wall Street Journal, IMG owner Ted Forstmann said that "the venture's ambitions are to create something akin to England's Premier League, for which IMG produces and distributes television programming... People might laugh at that now, but let's see where we are in five years"

The real potential profits from the venture will come from the development of professional sports leagues. The IMG-Reliance venture will look to strike arrangements with India's soccer and basketball federations to help them build these leagues.

Wow. I don't mean neccessarily good wow or bad wow... Just.. Wow...

It's all really happening now isn't it? When the richest Indian company and one of the most succesful sports management companies from the USA get involved in helping to build facilities and a basketball league in India, you know it's more than just empty words.


I've always believed that India's sporting success has always come despite the government. Despite the public sector. So, while the BFI plans and contemplates and slowly trudges towards starting a pro basketball league in the country, here come Ambani and Forstmann with a lot more money and a lot more vampire fangs to suck into the growing Indian athletic juices. Their proposed basketball and football leagues will not be too different in terms of the commercial standpoint from Lalit Modi's IPL T-20 Cricket league. Purists may completely disregard what the IPL and T-20 have done to the game, but there is no denying that now being a professional cricketer is an exciting and possible option for a lot more Indians than before.

This could turn out well for basketball in India. Better facilities, better training, more money, more talent, better teams, more fans, more merchandise... More basketball.

On the other side, it could all go bonkers... If the soul of the game itself is disregarded. Money may be able to buy a lot of things, but it'll be interesting to see how they manage to buy fans for the game in India. It's not impossible, for basketball and football are very easily likable sports, and are already two of the fastest growing sports in the country. I just hope that, like T-20 threatened to butcher what purists called "real cricket", this league doesn't butcher the game of basketball itself.