What government needs to do to generate employment and revenue from Sports?
Sport is a sector that generates billions of dollars as revenue and millions of jobs globally could play a major role in the reconstruction of India during and after the Covid19 pandemic. It is natural to wonder how the sports sector, which drains crores of rupees every year from the central and state exchequers and does not return any significant revenue to the governments, is going to play a major role in the reconstruction of our country and state. Sports is one of the top industries in the world, especially in developed countries. In countries such as the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, a significant percentage of the working population is working in the sports sector. But in our country, we have not yet considered sports as a source of income or as a profession.
For us, sports is the only way to get admission to educational institutions or to get a government job. For the government, it’s just a matter of winning a few medals at the Olympics, the Asiad, the Commonwealth Games or the National Games. Governments spend crores of rupees from the taxes collected from the people to train athletes. When athletes win medals, the government rewards them with crores of rupees from the pocket of commoners. The government gives them government employment and when they start a coaching academy, gives free land and money. It is a very common doubt that what benefit such a sports system is going to give to our society and how it is going to create employment and revenue.
The following are 5 important initiatives that governments can take in the sports sector to generate revenue and employment opportunities for the state exchequer with less investment.
