SACRAMENTO: “Shaq is swinging
a cricket bat at the Arena? Can you imagine that?” asked a voice with disbelief.
“There will be a Bollywood dance show at half-time today,” quipped a professor
who teaches immigrant and ethnic relations at the University of California. “Quite
an apt thing for a region which has the fastest growing Indo-American
population isn’t it,” he adds.
For a good two hours amidst
all the festivities before the season opener between Sacromento Kings and
Denver Nuggets at the Sleep Train Arena, a humdinger which the Kings later won
90-88, the match itself seemed incidental. Five months ago, the locals weren’t
even sure whether there would be a team to cheer for. This was until an Indian
businessman settled in the United States, Vivek Randive, Chairman of the
billion-dollar enterprise TIBCO Software, impressed on the NBA to sell the Kings
to him rather than to someone who was intent on moving it to Seattle. The
‘someone’ was none other than the current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer!
From exhibition cricket, to
Bollywood dances to bill board’s carrying the message ‘Namaste India’, there was Indian touch to practically everything. Randive
now has a majority stake and in late September, Los Angeles Lakers legend
Shaquille O’Neal became a minority owner.
Prior to the celebrations,
Randive, in a media interaction dwelt on how he plans to take the game to India,
making a dent in a country that seems to favour cricket disproportionately and
his future plans for the team.
Excerpts:
On
the vision for the club: We pledge to build a winning franchise, that enhances
the lives of all those it touches, adds a set of values – excellence,
integrity, openness, hard work and fun. We hope to never let the fans and the
local community down.
On
plans to expand the game in India: We know that cricket is the national pastime.
So we are not looking at Basketball to surpass it. Our goal is to be a strong
No. 2 to cricket. We have launched a Hindi language website. TV broadcast has
started. We will have clinics and exhibition games. Out team will go to India
and O’Neal has promised to come with me.
Can
increasing viewership translate into more talent emerging? Doesn’t seem to be
happening with Football: We are not expecting any overnight success. But it is
becoming one of the fastest growing sports in India. Our commitment is
long-term. It’s the only American sport that easily connects with Indians. It
has no competition vis-à-vis NHL which has field hockey and Baseball, cricket.
We have players coming from Punjab like Satnam Singh and the Bhullar brothers
who could one day turn out for NBA teams. In the next five years I would be
very surprised if there wasn’t an Indian player in the NBA.
Edited version:
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