Sports business industry leaders stressed on increasing fan experience through technology and innovation during the SportzPower Pro Leagues Forum 2025 at MCA Club Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Mumbai on Wednesday. All were on the same page in keeping the essence of the sport intact and promoting the professional leagues in the industry conference that focused on the business of India’s fast-growing professional leagues.
Arun Sadasivan, Chief Business Officer, Fan Play, touched on the importance of data collection and real fan engagement. "Data collection helps us to understand fans and engage with them better, There are various touch points which must be catered," Sadasivan said during a panel discussion. "This is a norm abroad and in India. two IPL teams have already started that and I hope that the rest IPL teams and other Leagues will follow suit to engage with fans in a better way," Sadasivan added.
"Understanding the fan psyche is important and creating an experience is important," said Hemant Dua, CEO, Seattle Orcas, who has been associated with GMR and Delhi IPL franchise in the past. "Creating smart stadiums where fans can have every facility and can order food from their seat is something that has to be done in India," Dua added.
Aakriti Vohra, Global Indian Delegate India for La Liga reflected upon the challenges that non cricket leagues face in engaging with fans."In India cricket captures 90% of the sports market. We have to target a specific audience, locality, regional language, economic strata and understand data to let the Indian audience digest it the way they want," she said.
Anil Singh, Founder and Manager Procam deliberated on community development through sport. "Marathons are sold through community drives. It has progressed despite scope for limited viewership on TV and OTT platforms. We have to understand the sport and promote it accordingly," said Singh who has been organising the Mumbai Marathon for over two decades.
Yannick Colaco, who was leading NBA India, before co-founding Fan Code, said data helps them to understand the fans better. "We have a lot of data at our disposal after every league we are associated with and can circulate with the franchises and league owners to make the league better based on feedback from fans," Colaco said.
Indranil Das Blah, Founder AMP Sports & Entertainment, dwelled on having a data driven strategy that will benefit all in the league including the fans. "The league is with athletes and fans and we have respect it and share the same passion," said former Mumbai City FC CEO who hinted that ISL model was flawed and Leagues had to spend too much, which was one of the reasons why ISL franchises like Mumbai City couldn't create enough fan base despite having celebrity like Ranbir Kapoor as the co-owner and enjoying good popularity. "League owners, franchise owners and athletes need to be on the same page and data will help us improve," he added.
Vishnu Vardhan Induri who conceptualised Celebrity Cricket League, praised the commitment shown by celebrities towards sports that helped the league to thrive and also how they used data collection to engage more with fans and make the league better every year.
