Does India remain a one-sport country?

AT A TIME when the whole country — or those obsessed with cricket — is engrossed in the Indian Premier League (IPL), it may be pertinent to have a look at the plight of other sports.

- Tushar Bhaduri

Recently, news came out that Mumbai may have another major cricket stadium. The metropolis already has four big venues — Wankhede, Brabourne, Bandra-Kurla Complex and DY Patil (five, if one includes Bombay Gymkhana, which hosted the first Test match played in this country) — but since none of them has a spectator capacity close to Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, the city was seen to be losing out on big finals. So, in the opinion of those who matter, bigger equals better, and the financial capital of the country, with the most successful domestic first class team in Indian cricket history, needs another big stadium.

This is the situation in a huge city where top-class facilities to host major events in other sports have been almost negligible in recent times. If this is the case with Mumbai, one wonders about the sporting infrastructure in most of the other cities.

Close on the heels of this development comes news that a major broadcast network has bought the rights to Indian cricket action from ‘May 28 till Diwali’. The package, comprising 10 major India series and marquee continental events, must not have come cheap. But the bidders must have considered it worth it and were confident of generating returns.

In contrast, consider that football’s world governing body, FIFA, has still not been able to sell the broadcast rights with the World Cup starting in less than two months. This, despite the rights to the 2026 and 2030 editions being bundled together to make the proposition more attractive. The minimum amount asked for was reduced from $100 million to $35 million, but there have been no takers till now.