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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