listen to an Olympian: ”Why there is no sports industry in Pakistan?” (URDU)

Pakistan is a story of missed opportunities thanks to excessive bureaucratic controls. We have talked of the sports industry as another opportunity missed in a previous episode.

• Unlike the past, we produce few sports champions.
• Despite a stadium or even 2 in many cities, there is no competitive sports or a sports industry.
• Yet we have many sports federations with considerable funding controlled by government favorites-- bureaucrats earlier players, bureaucrats or generals. All of these federations are bureaucracies stifling talent and the growth of a sports market. 

Yet the sports industry could be a huge employer.  Each small football team in the west employs about a 1500 people at a minimum and offers indirect employment—stadiums ticket sales, snack, and memorabilia sales—to 1000s of others. Just the growth of city teams in large cities would employ a over a million people.

Today we listen to a genuine champion on this issue--Olympian and former Pakistan hockey team captain Salman Akbar. With me is a Waqas Younas a well known writer and an entrepreneur talking to Salman to try to unravel this extremely important subject.  

I hope you enjoy listening to the combination of an olympian and economists. That is how markets can be made.   

Our researchers seldom look at this issue as a possible research topic and one worth of discussion as we remain obsessed with exports, industry and agriculture.  I urge you to think about this issue as well.