Trip to United States: Observations & Insights

I have been travelling from India to the United States for the past 10 years and typically the primary objective of each trip is to spend time with family and share the Indian sports story with US based sports organizations.  While my schedule during these trips is always packed full of countless meetings and mini-excursions, somehow each sojourn back to the country of my childhood provides me with a re-charge fuelled by the knowledge that I am uniquely positioned to connect the East and West through sport and the constant validation that I made the right decision to move to India nearly 10 years ago.

 This last trip was extraordinary. Personally, I was able to bask in the warmth of family love and the California sun over a few days spent in the majestic mountains, tranquil vineyards and the clear-blue ocean all located within a 2 hour drive of my Huntington Beach, California home.  There is nothing more special than celebrating life with loved ones and, even though I live thousands of miles away from my immediate family, it always feels like no time has passed when we get together. Professionally, I was able to have productive conversations with some of the biggest individuals and influencers within the US sports industry as well as a few of the top sports management education program providers in the country. 

Due to confidentiality, I won’t go into the details of my meetings however I will share a few observations & insights that came out of my entire of experience of creating partnership and programming opportunities in India with some of the top US based sports executives:

People Value Consistency – The fact that I have remained consistent with my commitment to connect the East and West through sport (and now education) somehow allows me to earn the respect of everyone I meet while I am back in the states – this respect ensures that people create windows in their calendars for our meetings and are incredibly generous with their time when I visit their offices

Nothing Beats a Good Story – As I was meeting Owners, Presidents, CEOs and other executives of sports organizations and educational institutions, it was critical that I craft and deliver a story about the growth of the Indian sports industry, one that they could appreciate and easily grasp – this is always better than leaning on facts and figures to tell the whole story of a sector that is unfamiliar to the person sitting across the table 

Securing a Sports Job in the US as a Foreigner is Challenging – I spent quality time with a number of Indian citizens who are currently in the US exploring professional opportunities within the sports industry. Unfortunately due to the tight immigration policies and an over-supply of American sports management graduates, it is extremely difficult for a non-US citizen to secure a job within a US sports organization which is creating tension for many of these individuals who aspire to remain in the states post securing their graduate degrees 

There are More Indian Americans in Senior Management Positions within the US Sports Industry than Ever Before – I remember back in 2003 when I joined Major League Soccer, it felt that Sunil Gulati and I were the only 2 Indians working in the US sports industry – times have changed though as during this past trip alone, I had meetings with 10 Indian Americans who all hold senior positions with some of the biggest sports organizations in the country

Everyone Has Heard of Kabaddi – While people in the states know about IPL and ISL due to cricket and football’s global reach, respectively, what was amazing was how many people wanted me to talk about Kabaddi’s growth from a rural game to a commercial success in India – another validation that people enjoy hearing about interesting case studies even if the subject matter isn’t directly relevant to their worlds 

I am grateful that I am able to make these frequent trips to the West as outreach is a critical component of collaborative creation. I have a dream that one day every top US sports organization has some presence in India and, based on this last trip, I don’t think that we are too far away from making this dream a reality. 

Now back to work on the ground here in India...


















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