“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Sport can awaken hope where there was previously only despair”
– Nelson Mandela
Though Australians have won the three match T-20 series 2-0 at the time the article is submitted, Sri Lankans can still have their hopes of celebrating a victory or at least making Australians sweat a bit more for their victories through the one-day series or the Test matches.
Irrespective of the wins and losses the visit of the Australian team to Sri Lanka at this hour of need should be highly appreciated. Sports can, not only awaken hope where there is only despair but also help the economy of the country where the events are being held.
Hopes would have been sky high for Ukrainians, who are in the verge of losing their country to Russian invaders, if they were able to get pass Wales in their last match to qualify for the World Cup-2022, to be held in Qatar in November of this year.
Ukrainian defender
Unfortunately, they had to postpone their dreams of competing in the World Cup at least by four more years due to their 1 – 0 loss to Wales. Adding insult to injury the goal Wales is credited with was an ‘own goal’, off the Ukrainian defender Yarmolenko himself.
That is the nature of sports. Unlike in business and politics, there are no win-win situations in sports, especially if winning depends only on the scores of the game, unless one considers a match ending with a tied score as one.
If the overall impact of playing a game is not limited only to the final scores but also included the physical, psychological, and economic gains of being involved in the process, then sports may also be able to produce win-win situations more often than otherwise.
Sports could be an important area to explore in the process of looking for sustainable solutions to the economic crisis of Sri Lanka too if we focus on the sports economist Alex Krumer’s version of John F. Kennedy’s famous statement: ‘Ask not what economics can do for sports – ask what sports can do for economics’.
According to the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, the sports industry has been considered as a major component of the economic revitalisation strategy of the Japanese Government since the beginning of the twenty-first century.
However, Germany had understood the significance of sports for the economy of the country a century before that. In the process of analysing what went wrong (for the Germans, of course) during the WW I, Germans identified the impact of sports not only on the physical and mental strength of their citizens but also on the economy especially in the health and education sectors.
German Government
The German Government, together with a team of physicians, psychologists, and business leaders promoted performance conditioning through sports as part of a comprehensive program to rebuild and improve human resources.
Though most educational institutes around the world facilitate sports activities as a supporting system for the recreational programs of students and other stakeholders only a limited number of such institutes actively engage in developing academic aspects of sports economics.
Two main aspects of the relationship between sports and economics can be described as ‘economics of sports’ and ‘economics in sports’. While the use of economics in the service of sports industry in analysing profitability of clubs, attendance fluctuations, competitive advantages and so on can be addresses under ‘economics of sports’, utilising data from professional sports in economic behaviour such as efficient markets and social influences on human behaviour can be addresses under the category of ‘economics in sports’.
One important aspect of the relationship between sports and economics most of such academic programs in ‘sports economics’ do not focus on is the economic growth through sports.
Some economists have even suggested Gross Domestic Sports Product (GDSP), the total sum of value-added pertaining to the sports product of one country in one year, to be a component of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Administrative policies
Countries that have not identified the importance of the sports industry lack such methods of measurement which is a basic need in the process of planning and drafting administrative policies relevant to the industry.
Traditionally sports-related policies have been drafted and implemented by physical education administration and they do not address most of the issues related to sports within the context of an industry contributing to the economic growth of the country.
Playing and watching can be considered as the fundamental activities of a sports economy the same way the ‘production’ and ‘consumption’are considered as the fundamentals of an economy in general.
While the human capital, sports clubs, leagues, regulatory bodies, and sports equipment manufacturing and supplying cover the different aspects of playing (factors of production) spectators, the media and the analysts and forecasters will cover the different aspects of watching (consumption).
As the Government has suggested, encouraging even the State employees to go abroad and work for some time, as a short-term solution to the dollar crisis in the country, a part of that workforce could be sports men and women who would be able to earn much higher salaries than electricians, plumbers, and domestic workers.
Sri Lankan cricketers
Though some Sri Lankan cricketers have gotten a few opportunities to play for clubs in other countries over the years, the country has not focused on opportunities it can capitalise on supplying cricketers or men and women for other sports addressing the demand in the global arena.
There are countries dominating the market of specific sports just having one good sport academy for the whole country. Sports academies can play a similar role to other education institutes that can attract students from other countries helping the economy of the country in the process.
It is not difficult to see that talent alone is not at all sufficient for success in the international arena. Therefore, if we, as a country, are serious in using all the resources we have in improving our economy we cannot overlook the opportunities we have in the sports sector.
What happens to talented sports men and women after they finish their school careers? Is cricket the only sport Sri Lankans can be competitive at international level or is it because cricket is the only sport the Government is willing to support?
Why hasn’t our women’s cricket team improved at the same rate as the men’s team? Is it because relatively limited participation or other discriminatory factors? Can’t we improve the rate of participation in sports from the primary school level itself, which might help improve the overall health of the society too?
These are just some of the aspects, we as a country, should be looking in to if we are to use sports as an industry making a significant contribution to our economy.
The writer has served in higher education sector as an academic over twenty years in the USA and fifteen years in Sri Lanka and he can be contacted at [email protected])