Government moves to channel more private money into sports

NEW DELHI: The government is planning to allow private sector companies to invest in sports development, which includes athlete training and infrastructure development, through the government’s National Sports Development Fund (NSDF).
To improve funding for athletes, the ministry of sports is planning to offer packages to corporates through which they can choose to support a discipline or an athlete in return for branding and other commercial opportunities.

The sports ministry proposal, which is at an advanced stage, includes a package for elite athlete support, another for supporting a particular discipline and one where corporates will have an option of setting up a centre of excellence or a sports academy using sports infrastructure owned by the government.

“This will bring in more money into the system and to athletes and improve involvement of corporates,” said Ajit M Sharan, secretary, ministry of youth affairs & sports, on the sidelines of the CII National Conference on Business of Sports in New Delhi.

These new schemes will come under the NSDF and all the money contributed by corporates will become part of the fund. The NSDF, which was set up by the ministry in 1998 during the Vajpayee government's tenure to provide assistance to elite sportspersons who have the potential to win medals at international games, has over the years provided money for training, treatment and buying equipment to star shooters such as Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra, Rajyavardhan Rathore, athlete Anju Bobby George, chess player Parimanjan Negi, swimmer Virdhawal Khade, tennis stars Somdev Devvarman, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza and Leander Paes, among others.

To make the entire exercise transparent, the ministry is planning to involve corporates in the governance of the fund.

For elite athlete support, the ministry is in the process of identifying a pool of potential medal winners who will then be offered to corporates. A company will be able to choose a player or a group of players in a particular sport to sponsor.

Corporates will also have the option of supporting a particular sport and will have to contribute towards infrastructure development, athlete support and coaching in that sport. “They will, in return, get a special status of partner with the government as well as branding opportunities,” said Sharan.

These branding opportunities will be at the venues of the events as well as through broadcast deals that the government will sign for these tournaments. Athletes will wear logos of their sponsors on their shirts and companies will also be allowed to use the athlete commercially for their brands.

To better utilise existing sports infrastructure that the government owns, companies will be given the option of setting up centres of excellence and various sports academies using government infrastructure.

“The main hurdle of infrastructure for such academies will be taken care of with this plan,” said former Delhi Daredevils CEO Amrit Mathur, who is now an advisor to the ministry of sports and is helping with this project.

The ministry is also planning to start a ‘prize money professional circuit’ for sports like wrestling, badminton, boxing and shooting. The plan is to organise five tournaments in each of the disciplines with substantial prize money in order to provide financial incentives to players to improve their game.

“Corporates will have to opportunity to sponsor these tournaments and most of the money they contribute will be part of the prize money that will eventually go to players,” said Mathur.