Putting India together with sport and typing them in to Google will likely bring you back some pretty foul pictures from the athletes village at the Commonwealth Games this past year of what can only be down to a seriously explosive episode of diarrhea. If that’s the only image that comes to mind it’s time for you to listen up!
India’s football team might not be the best in the world, and they might never qualify for a World Cup unless they buy the right to host it. This hasn’t stopped a joint venture buying the commercial rights to soccer in the country.
Indian company, Reliance Industries, and the sports and entertainment company IMG Worldwide, will develop a new professional league as part of the $156million 15-year-deal.
“This is India’s biggest attempt ever to scale up the game in a country where the dominant sport is cricket,” Kushal Das, general secretary of the All India Football Federation, told the Financial Times.
It will also be very interesting to see what effect this will have on the gambling market in the country. Gambling itself is highly restricted in India, however, the growth that we are seeing throughout the continent might see some kind of legislation come in at some point in the future should the soccer league prove popular. Even if legislation doesn’t come in, the huge underground illegal gambling rings are sure to be pleased with a new product to wager their money on.
