In a country as populous and diverse as India, there’s a lot of room for a healthy sports ecosystem which can produce talented athletes across various sports disciplines. But the reality couldn’t be farther from what the statement suggests. Cricket is the only sport that truly dominates the sporting landscape in India, while other sports even as global as Football and Lawn Tennis, are left playing the catch up game. Though cricketers in India earn big money, the majority of Indian athletes struggle to make ends meet. This is down to a lot of factors such as poor sports infrastructure, lack of success in non-cricket sports and cultural attitude towards sports in general.
Also Read: Challenges and Opportunities for Women in Indian Sports
The Pay Gap: Why there’s so much disparity?
There are various factors why there’s so much disparity between the income of Indian athletes and what their global counterparts earn. Let’s discuss some points that could be the reasons for the income
1. Cricket-Centric Culture
Cricket has always overshadowed other sports in India. Even a game as global and as popular as football takes a back seat to cricket’s popularity and following. As cricket is always in the limelight, whether it’s for the right or wrong reasons, big companies tend to collaborate with cricketers, as well as with the leagues such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Indian cricket team matches. As the money involved in cricket is often in billion, this leaves little room for other sports and players. Also the limited commercial success of leagues such as Indian Super League (ISL) and Premier Badminton League (PBL) – now defunct – restricts earnings for athletes other than cricketers.
Also Read: Challenges In Monetizing Indian Sports Content Online
2. Lack of Infrastructure and Investment
A country’s success in any sport depends on how robust its infrastructure is. Cricket is hugely successful in India because the BCCI, cricket’s parent body in India, has created a system where talented athletes can get access to world-class athletes. In terms of infrastructure, cricket is the standard in India for other sports. Without world-class facilities, India fail to produce world-class athletes consistently in sports such as Football, Basketball or Athletics. As there’s limited success for athletes, big companies do not want to spend big on marketing and sponsorships on non-cricket athletes, which significantly impact their earnings.
3. Limited Sponsorship and Endorsement Opportunities
Global sports brands and sponsors tend to associate with internationally successful athletes. Cricket is not a global sport by any stretch of imagination while non-cricket athletes are no where as successful as premium players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, Roger Federer or Tiger Woods. That means, global brands have too many options to collaborate with, leaving Indian players with a smaller pool of opportunities.
4. Lack of a transparent system to support Athletes
Indian sports ecosystem suffer from poor governance and mismanagement. There’s no system in place which can take care of the well-being of sports athletes other than cricket. Even playing in top-notch leagues such as ISL doesn’t guarantee a big paycheck, unless you are Sunil Chhetri. This inconsistency and lack of transparency of funds being allocated in the right way affects the financial growth of its athletes.
5. Shorter Career and Limited Post-Retirement Support
The career of a sports player is far shorter than traditional career, let’s say a typical 9-5 job. So an athlete has to earn enough money in that limited time to support not only himself, but his family members as well for the rest of his life. But not every athlete get the right opportunity at the right time. Most suffer at the hands of the poor infrastructure, poor management, which then, affect their overall growth as an athlete. Lack of success on the field means, athletes don’t get sponsorships or financial support from the government. Many athletes struggle financially after leaving the sport and most opt for jobs such as coaching in small academies, which don’t pay enough, to be fair.
How the Pay Gap can be Bridged?
1. Better Investments in Other Sports
There’s no shortcut to success. If we want to see an Indian player playing for a football club like Liverpool, or Bayern Munich, infrastructure has to improve. And for that to happen, more investment is required, not only from government but from private sector. Grassroots programs should be made more robust to create a more balanced sports ecosystem.
2. Develop Professional Leagues
We have seen how professional leagues such as Hockey India League (HIL), Premier Badminton League (PBL) and few others became defunct. This clearly indicate the lack of interest from stake holders in running the league. Better marketing and more investment could have helped a lot in the continuation of the leagues. Even the ISL is seeing poor marketing as the attendance in the matches keep decreasing. Steps should be taken to revive those leagues which will significantly improve the financial well-being of players.
3. Celebrate non-cricket achievements More
There’s a saying in hindi – “jo dikhta hai, wo bikta hai”. This statement holds true in every aspect of life. Even if the achievement of a student in a certain exam, if marketed aggressively and in the right manner, can help him get scholarship and funding. In India, we tend to overlook the sports achievements if it’s not cricket. If media and even general public show more support towards non-cricket achievements, it can help bring more focus on athletes, which means, sponsors would want to collaborate with them. This can significantly increase their earning.
5. Promote Sports Education
In India, every other aspiring sports player want to become either Virat Kohli or Sachin Tendulkar. There’s nothing wrong with that, but young kids should also be taught about other sports. More often than not, children are forced into pursuing education if they want to play sports, especially if it’s not cricket. This is down to lack of sports education amongst parents. Other than improving infrastructure, educating athletes as well as parents about financial planning can help them secure long-term financial stability.
Conclusion
The pay gap between Indian athletes and their global counterparts is a reflection of India’s lack of success in global sports such as Football, Lawn Tennis and Basketball, to name a few. In fact, India get trolled during global sporting events such as FIFA World Cup and Olympics due to the country’s lack of success in producing quality athletes. We should also accept this fact that why out of a more than a billion population we can’t produce few gold medal winners in Olympic events, while Australia, which has population less than India’s Kolkata city, manage to win multiple gold medals.
As Indian athletes fail to leave a mark at the global stage, no international brand would want to collaborate with them when there are other options such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Unless, Indian athletes start winning in global sporting events, the significant pay gap between their earnings and what international athletes earn would always continue to exist.
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