| Basketball, as a sport, has never managed to catch the fancy of the ordinary Indian sports fan. There are just a handful of fans who watch it, and the numbers of those who play the game is also not too encouraging. |
| But the news of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) joining hands with America's world-famous professional league, the NBA, should do the game a lot of good in this country. |
| That's something with which Harish Sharma, the secretary general of the BFI, agrees. "We have some ambitious plans and with the help of the NBA we are sure that the game will get more popular." |
| Ideas such as having a domestic league of their own and probably something along the lines of player exchange programmes are being discussed. Apart from this, the coaching and the infrastructure facilities too should get a boost. |
| Sharma doesn't divulge the exact nature of the partnership with NBA, but he does say that the idea is to develop the game and make it more popular. |
| The league might follow the Premier Hockey League format, with the idea of having city-based teams and increasing popularity by creating regional rivalries. While the idea has been more or less a success story with PHL, it remains to be seen whether it will actually work with basketball in India. |
| Sharma feels that more companies should step up and show interest in the game by exploring sponsorship opportunities. "The game has to be presented in an attractive manner, so that large number of viewers come in." he adds. |
| Basketball in the US works on the city-based team format and enjoys immense popularity and viewership, and a lot of money is pumped into the game. |
| The Indian picture is not too clear at the moment, but BFI is hoping that this will be a step in the right direction for them. It's a good start but will it gain momentum and make basketball popular? Your guess is as good as ours! |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard