With prodigies like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and D Gukesh redefining the limits of achievement, the sporting world is witnessing a new wave of teenage brilliance. However, these success stories are rare, with barely 1 percent of those who try to pursue sport as a career becoming successful.
Considering that most young athletes compromise on their academic learning to prioritise a potential career in sport, it is of paramount importance to question the economic cost of the trade-off.
With a career spanning at the most to 40 years, many national and state-level athletes struggle to establish a career outside sports, compelled to take up modest jobs through sports quotas, sometimes even taking up menial jobs as drivers or construction workers.
With expensive coaching, equipment and apparel needs, parents spend a fortune to support their children dreaming of a sports career. Budding athletes enrol in schools and colleges where financial assistance is rare.
The bigger and hidden cost for athletes, however, is that of the second innings—of transitioning into another career subsequent to their sporting life. There is a stark absence of a supportive ecosystem for Indian athletes, unlike countries like Canada, which has the Game Plan programme to support athletes in development of skills for other careers, or the UK’s Life after Professional Sports.
India’s youth affairs and sports ministry launched RESET or Retired Sportsperson Empowerment Training programme in 2024 with the goal of making former athletes more employable, a commendable initiative and an important first move. It aims to support retired athletes in the age category of 20-50 who have participated in or won medals at international, national and state-level events through a dedicated self-paced learning portal along with on-the-ground training and internship.
There is ample research demonstrating the positive impact of engaging in any type of physical sport on an individual’s physical and mental well-being. There is also evidence that enhanced participation in sports improves pro-social behaviour and reduces crime among young men. Sport can act as a powerful catalyst for economic growth, warranting national well-being and contributing to a healthier society not merely a recreational activity. As per the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011, sport is a public good and sport development a public function at the national policy level, to be treated at par with public health and public education. However, unlike education or health, sport is popularly viewed as an entertainment—making it exclusive and a career in it accessible mostly to the rich, ignoring the potential spillover societal benefits. India spends a meagre 0.06 percent of the total government expenditure on sports, much lower than many other countries.
Beyond pride and prestige, sports can act as a driver of economic growth when developed strategically and efficiently. Revenue during the construction of sports stadiums flows in the form of employment, and construction, procurement and design work. Five stadiums owned by the Sports Authority of India generated revenues of `218 crore in 2023-24. SAI’s equipment support division procured goods and services worth `38.8 crore.
But while a significant share of the budgetary funds allocated to the department of sports in 2023-24 was directed towards developing sports infrastructure and supporting young athletes, only 0.2 percent was allocated as pension for meritorious sportspersons.
For athletes, a dual career is not just desirable, but essential. Student athletes suffer academically owing to long absences away from the university and lack of flexible course options. Universities in India ‘support’ their high-performing athletes by ‘giving’ them attendance or being lenient in assessment. This is not at all sufficient in supporting athletes.
Much sought-after competencies such as teamwork, discipline, resilience and leadership are readily cultivated through sports. There is a serious gap in providing customised educational programmes for athletes that help integrate these skills to facilitate a career transition that is both successful and gratifying.
If pursuing a sport is viewed as a plausible career option, with structured fall-back plans and income security, more people are likely to invest their time and resources in training. This, in turn, has the potential to expand the talent pool, leading to greater international success.
It is a pitiable that out of a population of 1.5 billion, the Indian contingent for the Paris Olympics, which comprised 117 athletes participating across 16 disciplines, failed to make a mark, ending the tournament with a medal count of six and a rank of 71—a decline from the earlier Tokyo Olympics where we finished 48th. It is thus the need of the sporting hour to create mechanisms that encourage people to invest in sports, because a well-supported sporting ecosystem is not just a community or social obligation, but also a strategic economic investment.
(Views are personal)
With inputs from Aishwarya Ganesh, research scholar
Read all columns by Pushkarni Panchamukhi
Pushkarni Panchamukhi
Associate Dean, School of Economics and Public Policy, RV University