Gone are the days when people stuck to their own professions. An actor just used to act, a sportsperson just used to play, singers just used to sing and directors would be behind the scenes. Today, that sacrosanct boundary is breached. Today, people wear multiple hats. Today, people are jacks and masters of all trades. This is especially true when we take a look at the way Indian sport is shaping up. It’s sort of safe to say that Indian sport is on a journey, experimenting and wearing new, colourful garbs every day.
The line between Indian entertainment, business and sport has become porous. Indian sport has become more benevolent, giving. People from all walks are now an integral part of the big Indian sporting family, especially the celebrities. It’s an era of leagues; of pitching high profile franchises against each other, and watch them draw blood, seek revenge, eke out wins. It’s snazzier and much more entertaining. More profitable too, to be honest.
There’s no dearth of funds when we talk about celebs. In fact, there’s always a surplus. Sport has become the new-age investment, the new age stock market. Any excess and readily available finance is best pumped into sport. Today, celebs no longer flaunt their cars or bungalows. Today, they flaunt the teams they own.
A lot of these leagues have been popping up every now and then. Indian Premier League set the trend and the rest of the sports followed suit. Hockey, badminton, kabaddi and now, soccer. This is the perfect opportunity for those celebs, who missed the train in case of the high-profile IPL. We have Preity Zinta owning the Kings XI Punjab, Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty owning the Rajasthan Royals franchise, Juhi Chawla and Shahrukh Khan owning the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The Indian Super League also has a constellation of stars as owners – John Abraham as part-owner of NorthEast United FC, Ranbir Kapoor, owning the Mumbai team, Salman Khan spearheading the Pune team, Sachin Tendulkar owning the Kochi team, Sourav Ganguly buying the Kolkata team, MS Dhoni with the Chennai team and Virat Kohli with the Goa team.
Abhishek Bachchan, who owns the Jaipur Pink Panthers team in the much talked about Pro Kabaddi League, also has a stake in Chennaiyin FC in the ISL. It’s not just the presence of these stars as the owners; it’s also the kind of kind of other star supporters they bring to the mix.
Sport today isn’t sport. It’s like a movie, with songs and opening ceremonies, stars and more stars, entertainers, just like box office hits and loads of drama. Indian sport has been rechristened. It’s Indian Celebrity League, in the truest sense of the term.