Broadcasting Rights Are The Fuel For Any Sport To Grow, Says Matthew Kurlanzik At Ficci 

Jyothi Venkatesh

Day 3 of the 20^th edition of FICCI FRAMES started with an interesting session on Sports. Titled ‘Sportsonomics: Driving Indian Sports Forward, On And Off The Field’, the session saw coming together of sportspersons, regulators, administrators and industry leaders to analyse business models and policies that will launch next decade of growth for Indian sports. Moderated by Indian Sports Journalist Mayanti Langer, the panelists included Atul Pandey, Chairman, Sports Live Entertainment; John Medeiros, Chief Policy Officer, AVIA;  Chintamani Rao, Renowned media expert; Mr. Vinit Karnik, Business Head - Entertainment, Sports & Live Events, GroupM; Nitin Kukreja, Chief Executive Officer, IQuest Enterprises Private. Limited and Matthew Kurlanzik, Director, Government Relations, Asia, 21St Century Fox.

With Khelo India, sports is being promoted as an important tool not only for physical growth but also for mental strength. The panelists spoke about the importance of creating sports environment on ground level to make India more prominent on international platforms.While Atul Pandey spoke about challenges from policymakers’ perspective, he also mentioned how the opportunities in our country are very high. Speaking about popularity of Indian Sports outside India John Medeiros said, “I live in Honk Kong, the cultural sphere is much different, but now I see a lot more Indian sports in our media than say ten years before. There is a dynamism in India which is flowing out into the rest of the world.”

“IPL has created a momentum around sports economy in India and that’s been pretty much driven by private players. The responsibility is not only of the broadcasters, but we need to create a holistic environment around sports,” said Nitin Kukreja. Speaking about taking sports to international platforms, he further added, “We have seen mushrooming of leagues and exposures, but at international level sports is a competition. Our medal tally at international level has come down. We need to take measures to correct and take Indian sports forward at an international level because the recognition, fan attention and money comes from there.”

Matthew Kurlanzik spoke about how abroad the sports competitions at school and university levels are being broadcast. “It doesn’t only give you a player that has already garnered fan following but also helps creating an environment around that sport. Broadcasting rights are the fuel for any sport to grow,” he added.

“We need to have many more leagues at school level, international coaches come here to coach our students, we need to nurture talent, give him or her right competition exposure, we need to have more international teams come here and play and we need to have that comprehensive piece from sporting side and from marketing point of view,“ concluded Nitin Kukreja.

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