Indian sport needs institutions

Indian sport’s next test is not whether it can launch more franchises, but whether it can build institutions that outlast a single season. Sportstar argued this week that India has spent a decade copying the Indian Premier League model without building the deeper systems that sustain sport. (sportstar.thehindu.com) The column, published on April 23, said franchises can sell tickets, sponsorships and television rights, but institutions also run academies, women’s teams, youth pathways and city-level programs. It proposed multi-sport, city-rooted organisations rather than stand-alone teams built only for one league. (sportstar.thehindu.com) That argument lands after two decades in which the Indian Premier League became the country’s dominant sports business template. The Board of Control for Cricket in India lists annual reports through 2024-25, while sports business outlet Sportcal reported the IPL’s 2023-27 domestic media rights packages were sold for $6.1 billion in June 2022. (bcci.tv, sportcal.com) Sportstar’s point was that copying the top layer of that model does not automatically create coaching ladders, scouting networks, league operations staff or reliable competition calendars. It said youth development remains peripheral in many Indian setups, and cities often host teams without building a broader sporting identity around them. (sportstar.thehindu.com) The institutional gap is visible in government paperwork too. A task force report hosted by India’s sports ministry said the country lacks a national institute or framework for sports administration and governance, and that administrators have no clear career pathways, competency benchmarks or professional development structure. (yas.nic.in) The ministry’s draft National Sports Governance Bill, 2024 also points to a system still being formalised. The draft proposes a Sports Regulatory Board of India and sets out definitions and governance rules for national sports federations, athletes and dispute resolution. (yas.nic.in) India does have state-backed sports institutions, but they sit mostly outside the franchise economy. The Sports Authority of India says it was set up in 1984 after the 1982 Asian Games and operates under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to promote sports culture and high performance. (sportsauthorityofindia.nic.in, sportsauthorityofindia.nic.in) Sportstar’s case is that leagues need the same kind of permanence on the private side: standard data systems, compliance staff, operations teams and development programs that survive ownership cycles. That would turn sport into more than a player market and create repeatable jobs in administration, governance and data management across multiple sports. (sportstar.thehindu.com, yas.nic.in) The column did not argue against franchises or against the IPL. It argued that India’s next phase starts when teams become institutions, and when a city’s sports economy includes the people who run academies, calendars, compliance desks and databases as well as the players on the field. (sportstar.thehindu.com)