Zimbabwe’s initiative towards profiteering from the global multi billion dollar sports industry.
By Tadiwa Jery
The Premiere League, Formula 1, Wimbledon, the Olympics and the ICC are some of the sporting campaigns that send shockwaves of excitement throughout the sports industry world wide.
This industry has been successful for decades throughout the world. In Zimbabwe, one of the most iconic campaigns was the Cottco Rugby Festival. It was well known for luring in crowds each year until it came to an end. After the industry successfully secured a constant demand from the public, sports have transcended past being for entertainment only. The industry has become a profitable branch for most economies world wide, contributing to the GDP of many countries.
Having multiple streams of income in the industry, most players in the market now capitalise on the profitability of the industry. With inflows from ticket sales, bets, merchandise sales, promotions, player transfers and copyright fees, investing in sports has been a matter of high importance in most developed countries.
In line with this, the Government of Zimbabwe decided to map out a plan under the NDS1 on how the nation can maximise returns from this industry. The government stated that, there is need for implementing strategies for sport development.
These strategies include the establishment of world class sporting facilities, promotion of high performance in sport by consistently awarding achievers through the National Recognition and Award System, developing an integrated sport management system and commercialising sport and recreation activities.
To attain these strategies, the government decided to start programmes such as the development of an integrated sport system, the development of sport capacity building, promoting domestic sporting competitions and leagues to encourage professionalism in sport and the refurbishment and construction of internationally recognised sporting facilities in selected provinces.
As the sporting industry has proved to be profitable globally, implementing the sport development strategies will lead to the improvement of the economic, social and environmental state of the nation.
By fully harnessing this developmental initiative, Zimbabwean sport persons will be able to participate in all competitions. This will also lure in a big audience as the improvement of performance of the sport persons will drive in crowds.
