Daily Times

After the world-renowned athlete and 1992 cricket world cup winning teamCapitan ‘Imran Khan’, came into power in Pakistan, there was an elevated level of sanguinity and anticipations in the sports management academia. Imran Khan, in recent history, is the only athlete who has been able to achieve the highest approbation in the realm of sports and politics.Few would argue that Imran Khan was the finest cricketer Pakistan has produced or the biggest heartthrob. Suave, erudite, and preposterously talented, as a Capitan he changed the destiny of Pakistan cricket. From his early days in Worcestershire to his last match at Melbourne for him has been an epic journey, full of scandals and glory.However, now the question stays that an athlete turned politician will be able to change the sports industry of more than 200 million populated countries named as Pakistan.

Despite being the sixth-largest country per population, except some glories in the realm of cricket, Pakistan has not been able to put its mark in the global sports arena for the past two decades. Years of terrorism, economic mayhem, outdated bureaucratic system, and internal political turmoil are some of the reasons for the gloomysituation. Nevertheless, with an athlete in power, there were many expectations that the government will try to change the situation and show some interest in developing sports in Pakistan. However, after the first and a halfyears, we see no direction given by the current government to reshape the sports industry, whichis a point of concern forthe sport’s advocates.

As previousresearch shows a clear link between GDP and sports, earliergovernments apathy towards this sector is alarming. For example, the sports industry as a whole in the US brings roughly $14.3 billion with more than 456,000 jobs. Also, sports not only bring economic fruits to small countries like South Korea and Singapore, but it also brings international recognition and portrays the soft image of a country. Currently, countries like Qatar is investing billions of dollarsto develop sports as a method to improve tourism. In addition, sports helpthe country to show the level of tolerance towards marginalized communities and its role towards gender empowerment. With the current government focus towards changing the image of Pakistan, sports might be the realm, which can provide this opportunity to regain the lost status of ‘green passport’.

To truly change the sports sector, we need a complete overhaul in the Pakistan Sports Board structure. Its current hierarchy under the umbrella of the ministry of inter-provincial coordination, beneath a minister who has no sports experience, does not make any sense

Despite all the prolific examples across the globe, the sports industry has not been taken seriously, not only by the governments but by academia as well. Presently, there is not even one university, which is offering a holistic course for sports management. Though some government universities are offering courses related to physical training, which are outdated and lack the professionalism to rebuild the sports industry in Pakistan. The result of this negligence is leading to further suppression of the sports merchandising industry of Sialkot especially. Despite all the resources, the footballs that we develop in Sialkot and are used in the mega-events like the FIFA worldcup is designed in the universities in the West. Due to which the major chunk of the revenue goes abroad rather than coming to Pakistan. Currently, sports merchandising has become a huge global industry, for example, the Indian sports licensing market was worth close to 18 million USD in retail sales in 2016.

The abysmal situation needs attention from the Pakistan sports board and the Higher Education Commission. Also, the universities should come forward to develop relevant sports management courses, which can help the practitioners, so we can increase the sports goods export and develop the neglected sector. In addition, sports as a kinesiology course if introduced in academia can help in producing engineering goods for the sports sector, which can increase the exports of Pakistan. Rather than focusing on producing eggs and cows, the Pakistani government should concentrate on innovative ways through which we can gain asustainable competitive advantage. We should learn from Japan that how through their focused approach on one automobile industry they changed the lives of millions in Japan.

In recent years especially in the west, sportstourism has gained a lot of popularity, which not only helps in the monetary terms but also helps in branding the positive image of the country. In Pakistan, yearly Polo match held in Shandur could be used as a mean to attract sports tourism, international polo teams could be invited rather than focusing on the old paradigm of alluring the tourists, which has failed drastically. In addition, the Pakistan Sports Board should work with relevant departments to increase sports tourism by promoting regional sports like Kabbadi, Guli Danda, etc. In a country where cricket is religion and sports are taken as part of the culture, branding it rightly could reshape the negative image of Pakistan.

To truly change the sports sector, we need a complete overhaul in the Pakistan Sports Board structure. Its current hierarchy under the umbrella of the ministry ofinter-provincial coordination,beneath a minister who has no sports experience,does not make any sense. The current government should develop a restructuring plan through which athlete development could be supported. In the future, the Pakistan sports board should be made an autonomous institute like the PCB. This all can be achieved, only through integrated strategy and developing a long-term public-private partnership plan. The private sector should be motivated to develop league sports, which will help in the inflow of funding. In addition, foreign investment could be allured through the development of this sector. This will also help in the development of athletes and facilitate the supporting sports staff at the ground level.

Overall, we need a complete restructuring of the sports industry in Pakistan at many levels. Imran Khan as being an athlete, with international exposure to the sportsindustry, might be the best thing, which can happen to the sub-continent. However, the words should be put in action and to economically develop, we as a nation should use innovative means to bring real economic change.

The writer is a PhD scholar of Sports Management at Texas A&M University, USA)