30 Indian Minds Leading the AI Revolution

Harsha Bhogle: For Sports Stars, Doing Business Is Not Easy On The Ego

Some sports stars disappear after retiring, some hang around on the fringes looking for ways back into the sport. Sports analyst and cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle tells Forbes India why it is tough for successful sportspersons to also find success in business

By Ashish K Mishra , Prince Mathews Thomas

Published: Sep 17, 2009 11:05:32 AM IST

There’s Mahesh Bhupathi with Globosport and then there is the rest of the talent management industry in India focussed on cricket. What do you think makes Globosport tick?
If you look at sports management today, there are cricketers and cricketer’s agents. Apart from that what have we done? There is Anil Singh in Procam who has done the Marathon and their niche events, apart from that what events do we have?

Till the Marathon came about we didn’t have a large sport event, and Marathon now is more of a city event than a sport event really. At least the WTA [Women's Tennis Association] event and all was a big plus which is what Globosport used to do, but apart from that, outside of cricket, where do we have any events? And if you are reading the newspapers now, you can see why not.

There are factions within the hockey federation and they are trying to come together; Commonwealth games are way behind schedule; a football coach is blasting the facilities for football in India — and there is no shortage of money. Any sport in India that can be on television and says there is shortage of money should all be sacked and asked to go home. Today, corporate India is willing to support if you are willing to give them professional management.

So, to achieve something outside of sport, to get funding outside of sport, to get governments in — I think Andhra Pradesh government and the West Bengal government partly funded the WTA tournament — they [Globosport] have done well.

One sign that a company is doing well is when people break away to start companies. There are two or three from Globosport. What’s happening now is that each of these cricketers is now saying why shouldn’t I start my own company? Which I think from a cricket point of view is a bit dangerous because if you are a one man company its okay, but the moment you start signing up other cricketers then it would be a conflict of interest.

Globosport, from what I remember, from being in tennis but also taking care of Sania [Mirza]. It was excellent the way they took care of Sania, the way they gave her experience. I am not sure how much exposure Sania would have got without Globosport.

Various cricketers have tried their hand at business but we haven’t heard a lot of success stories from them. What to your mind is the reason for it?
You won’t [hear business success stories from cricketers]. When you are a cricketer you are used to things being done for you in India. So if you are used to things being done for you, that makes it difficult to be a businessman where you have to do a lot of things.

Also, cricketers in India are so pampered and fawned upon. But if you have got to set up [a business], you have to go to sponsors, got to go with business plans to sponsors, you have to sell yourself to a sponsor, while all along they have been on the other side of the selling process. They have [had] people trying to sell to them. So, it’s not easy from a training point of view, it’s not easy from an ego point of view. In fact, in the history of sport around the world you would struggle to come up with five names; it’s a good exercise to do of sports players who have moved into sports administration leave alone business.

Eventually all sportsmen gravitate towards their area of strength which is their sport. So all of them get into the media; some with more responsibility than others.
Look, I think for companies to survive, somebody has to be hungry. So, who is the inspirational driving force for sports companies? It has to be the partner and not the cricketer himself because the cricketer has spent all his energies and all his ambition on becoming something on the sports field. So the motivation has to come from a partner.

So I can see why [there are hardly any cricketers with successful businesses] unless a cricketer is coming from a hardcore business family. So it will be interesting to see how Ganguly goes about it. That is the one person you must look at because he comes from a business family. Kapil Dev has business sense but I don’t think he came from a big business family. Vijay Merchant came from a business family; he had a thriving business, Thakersay mills, which for a long time did very well. But in the last 15 years, there is hardly anybody from a privileged family who has come in. So Ganguly is one that you must watch out for because he comes from a business family. He is married into a business family. I think he is starting a chain of schools now so he will be interesting.

Ravi [Shastri] has got pretty decent business sense but I don’t know if a lot of cricketers want to set up teams. It is so much easier to keep selling yourself, keep your overheads low so whatever you get is a profit. You know, cricketers have very nomadic lifestyles so it is very difficult for cricketers to get anchored. I remember Sourav [Ganguly] said, I have travelled such a lot I don’t want to be a commentator on the circuit, I don’t want to travel so much. Then Wasim [Akram] told me, ask him after a year. You can’t leave this game. I think that is one of the reasons we haven’t had successful sportsmen businessmen.

How closely have you interacted with Mahesh Bhupathi?
I have met Mahesh a few times, talked to him on the phone a few times. He always responds to SMSes which to me is an indicator of a person’s calibre. I have done a couple of corporate events that Globosport did. But, Mahesh has a way with people which you can see.

I was in Hyderabad once for some work and Sania was playing a game so I texted Mahesh saying I know you must be overworked but is it possible for me to come and watch Sania play. And he responded immediately saying someone will be at the gate for you and all that. He needn’t have done that. And he is a soft spoken guy, he doesn’t talk very much. You will hardly see Mahesh going around and telling people I am the greatest. Mahesh has 11 slams — that means that you are one of the greatest doubles player of all times. But how many times have you seen Mahesh go around and say I’m the best?

Mahesh is not one of the flamboyant guys. He won’t send a press release saying I went out in my car at six this morning and have television crews trailing him. Today, the media has become scarily flippant. If an actor carries a dog to a movie preview that’s news. And that is what we all seem to want. It is worrisome. But sometimes it is easier to do it with others than oneself. They [Globosport] did that outstandingly with Sania. They made Sania a social figure as much as a tennis figure. It is difficult to do it for yourself.