Live India, Love Football

I’m currently on a flight heading home to Mumbai and reflecting upon my extraordinary two weeks in the United States. Since moving to India in 2009, I’ve had the opportunity to travel back to the states for business on many occasions, however this trip was different, this trip was focused more on Indian sports industry education versus explanation.   I’ll explain.   Over the past 10 years, I’ve conducted no less than 500 meetings with United States based sports, media and entertainment organizations to let them know about opportunities within the Indian sports landscape.   I would present the numbers, walk them through the unique case studies and share a general overview of opportunities within the industry. During those meetings, my primary objective was to plant a seed that the time is now to start taking the Indian sports market seriously and, more times than not, the seed was successfully planted. But as I said this trip was completely differ...

A few days ago, I completed 10 years of living in India. I happened to be flying from Mumbai to Delhi on the same day of the Anniversary and felt overwhelmed with emotion while I walked through the Delhi airport to catch a taxi to Gurgaon so that I could celebrate Diwali with my wife and in-laws. This walk brought up memories of when I landed in Delhi on the morning of October 25, 2009 ready to begin the next chapter of my life in this country.  While re-living this moment, my emotions grew so strong that, on the taxi ride to my in-laws, I decided to use social media as an outlet to share my memory as well as gratitude for those who have contributed to my past past decade in this extraordinary country.  Honestly, though, what was even more overwhelming than the fact that I have completed 10 years living in India, was the response to my social media post. I just couldn't believe that people from all over the world took time out of their busy schedules to share some memory,...

Our team at India On Track organized The Sports Movement Conference in Delhi last week. It was the 4 th edition of India’s premier sports conference and networking event and it was a success. It included everything that one would hope for when attending a sports conference: high-profile speakers, engaging panel discussions and a cohort of influential delegates who remained at the event throughout the day. Also, the participation of Premier League, Major League Baseball, UNESCO, Portuguese FA, Australian High Commission, Chelsea FC, Borussia Dortmund and other international organizations led to interesting conversations around how to connect the East and West via sport. And, of course, it was great to have elite sportspersons Yuvraj Singh, Dipa Karmaker, Anjum Moudgil, Tania Sachdev and Aditi Chauhan involved as speakers and attendees. As I’ve written about the accolades of this conference multiple times in the past, I’ll focus this post on sharing some key learnings and nota...

The other night I attended the first ever NBA match to be hosted in India.   It was a brilliant evening with my wife and Mother-in-Law, especially given the fact that the NBA were successfully able to create the North American professional basketball experience right here in Mumbai. I’m thrilled that this event took place and that I could experience it live. As a quick recap, I’ve included some thoughts below on what was ‘Great’ and ‘What Could Have Been Better.’ The Great It Happened: Having worked in sports in India for the past 10 years, I have a sense of the challenges companies go through when trying to organize a high profile sporting event in the country.   The fact that the NBA pulled it off with no major issues (at least ones the public is aware of) is a massive win for everyone involved with the project. Electric Atmosphere: From the high intensity music, to the on-court entertainment, to the continuous fan engagement activities, I ...