Less than a sprint of 100 days for the Commonwealth Games 2010 and the charged atmosphere in the plush office of the Organizing Committee for the Games Mantar, near New Delhi’s Jantar iconic palpable.
An army of enthusiastic young Indian graduates, some MBAs, just some college graduates, some with experience in sports administration, and many of them with a passion for the sport, are brushing shoulders with some 70 foreign experts in what is perhaps the event largest team for the Games.
Over the past two years, many of these young men and women have been pouring in on the power point presentations, charts, diagrams and designs to create the backbone of the Commonwealth Games. If the Games to move for good, they know, India has come to hold more events like sports and sports leaders will be in vogue.
The prospects are enormous. Apart from the Commonwealth Games, a number of other sports properties are planned in India in the near future. The next is the ICC World Cup Cricket next year, Formula One, the Chennai Open and Sunfeast Open tennis tournaments and a few golf tournaments.
Needless to say, logistics management, marketing, catering, ceremonies, crowds, ticket sales, media, among others, will be the big challenges in the future, as everywhere in the world, young professionals with the right skillsets come to play their part.
Consider the Indian Premier League for example. Even those with a grudge against Lalit Modi admitted that the conclusion of the show was not child’s play. In fact, Mr. IPL Modi had to look outside of India and finally IMG hired to administer the program. Even team owners have had their share of problems finding the right sports leaders. They have hired either former athletes or delegates senior executives from companies of the group to run the program.