Indian football: A candid chat with Neel Shah

Neel Shah has been a part of the movement that has helped football put down roots in the US as a business, sport and entertainment as an ex-Director Fan Development, Major League Soccer (MLS).

As an Associate, Dentsu Sports India, now Neel, being in India is observing at close hand how various stakeholders in India are trying to do the same, in their own way. Neel shares his experiences, thoughts and ideas with us.

Harmit: Please tell us about yourself, your family and childhood? Was football a part of your childhood and was it an accessible sport as you grew up in California?

My parents left Gujarat for the US in the early 1970’s and eventually settled in Southern California where I was born. They wanted to provide me with an “American” childhood and enrolled me in every sport possible at a young age. Football was the one I enjoyed the most and fortunately the youth football landscape in California was extremely developed during that time creating ample opportunities for me to play. I was on a recreational team from the age of 4 to 9 and then played for an organized club team until I was 18.

Neel in India (third from left)

During my entire childhood my family’s lives seemed to revolve around my football schedule. Practices during the week, league matches during the weekend, travelling around the country for tournaments and even a 3 week trip to Europe to play in England, France and Denmark. Football shaped my life in many ways as in addition to getting in shape, the sport provided me with self confidence, lifelong friendships and the opportunity to see the world.

Harmit: Did you have inkling or ambition that your love for the sport may end up as your profession too?

MLS launched in 1996 when I was 16 years old. At that time I knew that I probably was not good enough to be a professional football player so I decided to devote my life to growing football in the United States. Once I made that decision I ensured that every academic choice, internship and conversation about my future was somehow geared towards securing a job with Major League Soccer.

Once I graduated from UC Santa Barbara I moved across the country to get my MBA in Sports Management so I could be closer to the MLS League Office in New York City. Fortunately, I secured an internship with MLS during my first year of my MBA and then was offered a full-time position within the Fan Development department a few months later. It was an incredible feeling to achieve my dream of working to grow the sport in the US through MLS.

Harmit: Please share with us some of the key building blocks that you think helped put football as a sport on the American landscape?

There are many, but I’ll focus on a few that made the biggest impact. The first has to be the launch of Major League Soccer. MLS paved the way for the construction of football specific stadiums, solid football fanbases around the country and home grown and international players plying their trade in the US on a consistent basis.

The second building block is the organization of youth football in the US. Thanks to the millions of coaches, administrators, volunteers and referees, youth football has become deeply ingrained within the US culture.

Indian Football star Sunil Chhetri” src=”https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/wp-content/uploads/Neel+Sunil-300×225.jpg” alt=”Neel Shah with Indian Football star Sunil Chhetri” width=”300″ height=”225″ />

Finally, the success of the US National Team has made a tremendous impact on the general awareness of the sport in the US. Key moments like the US beating Mexico in the second round of 2002 World Cup, US making it to the final of the 2009 Confederations Cup and Landon Donovan’s recent goal against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup has helped football become a mainstream topic of discussion in the US rather than something only discussed in smaller, niche circles.

Harmit: You have now been in India for almost a year. Do you think India has it (especially in terms of a planned vision and structure) to raise the participation levels, coaching expertise and the the way the game is played and marketed? What gives you hope?

Everyone is well aware of the challenges which include lack of infrastructure, lack of corporate support, lack of national marketing, lack of solid ownership groups and lack of fully licensed coaches among many others. However, what India has is significant grassroots interest in the sport, pockets of true passion and a unified belief by many Indian leaders that football needs to grow in this country.

The main area of opportunity that will impact many of the challenges lies in the importance of establishing a sustainable professional league. I truly believe that a strong domestic professional league supports the growth of football at all levels. I am a big supporter of the I-League switching to a single entity model where the ownership groups have a financial stake in the success of the league. A strong foundation for the I-League will be the catalyst for corporate support, stadium development, youth academies, coaching programs, etc.. Without that foundation, the Indian Football landscape will continue to be the Wild West where there is no unified vision and everyone is trying to figure out a way to make some quick money.

All that being said, I have tremendous hope for the sport in this country. With AFC making India a bigger priority, talk of a new AIFF marketing/broadcast partner and all the youthful energy being injected into the sport, I see a great future for football in India.

Harmit: Please tell us a bit more about the Adidas Generation Next program in the US?

The Generation adidas program is designed to identify, sign and develop young domestic talent. Through the program, selected young players are signed to an MLS contract which provides an adidas sponsorship agreement and a university scholarship fund. In addition, these players are roster protected for a couple of years so they have time to develop within the professional system independent of how they perform. The incentive for clubs to sign Generation adidas players is that their salaries do not count against the club’s overall salary cap.

Since the inception of this program in 1997, MLS has signed over 160 young players. Just another example of what’s possible through a strong relationship between a professional league and a leading sports brand.

Harmit: Please tell us some of the main initiatives that you used and were successful in when it came to fan development in the US?

During my time at MLS, the league’s focus was on developing US based football fans into fans of MLS. The US is a massive sports market, but it didn’t make sense for us to invest our resources into turning a die-hard baseball, basketball or American football fan into an MLS fan. Also, we threw out the word “convert” and replaced it with “adopt.” It is much easier to have someone who is a massive fan of a European club adopt an MLS club as another team to support than ask them to redirect their passion to an MLS club. This transition impacted all of our marketing communication to the existing football community.

We were able to segment the existing football community into 3 key target markets and through a significant amount of research we learned what individuals were looking for and, more importantly, what they didn’t want to see. We then designed programs specifically customized to each of those markets and worked with our clubs to execute them. Because in the end it’s not about people becoming fans of MLS, it’s about developing fan affinity toward an individual club.

Harmit: What kind of initiatives have you worked on so far in India?

It was the right move for me to pursue my professional career in India with Dentsu Sports. Given the company’s success in sports globally and its extensive relationships and internal resources in India, we have been able to secure work on a number of interesting initiatives.

In terms of football, we are working closely with a group of schools to build out a youth academy, serving as marketing partners for a large state association and an I-League club, working with the AIFF on revamping their website and in conversations with many international clubs looking to extend their reach into India. In addition, we managed PR for the Kansas City Wizards in India when Sunil Chhetri signed with them.

Harmit: Since you work for a marketing and advertising services company, are you able to convince us that sponsors really care about developing football and are prepared for a long term commitment? Or is the outlook essentially, let’s do a “tamasha” and that’s about it.

First off, this past year has shown that many corporates are interested in a long term commitment to growing football in India. Corporates such as Bajaj Allianz, Reliance, Musli Power X and Mahindra have all committed to investing in youth development and others such as Panasonic and Coca-Cola have made investments at the top with AIFF.

That being said, domestic football in India is not an easy sell as many corporates have a pessimistic view of the potential return on investment gained from supporting football in this country. But wherever there are challenges there are opportunities and we see the present situation as a great opportunity to build a family of corporates who are genuinely interested in developing the sport.

When we are selling our football properties the key points that have been well received by corporates are the progress football has made in India over the past 10 years, the direct connection to the grassroots community, associating one’s brand with the development of a major sport and the great values that football properties are currently selling at.

Harmit: Have the AIFF or any of the clubs reached out to to see how they could benefit form your experience?

We are currently providing a few Indian Football properties with marketing and consulting services. Right now our key priority is to achieve revenue and marketing success for our existing clients and take those case studies into new markets within India.

Harmit: How has working in India been for you so far? Any surprises, idiosyncrasies that surprised you and that you would like to share with us?

It’s been an incredible experience. I came to this country to contribute and learn as much as possible which is exactly what Dentsu has allowed me to do. I firmly believe that nobody can truly understand this marketplace without living and working in it for a decent amount of time. Although I’m a year into my time in India, I still feel that I’m in a discovery period in a number of ways.

One key difference is that the Indian business community is extremely analytical and is heavily focused on showing a quick return on investment. Fancy presentations, intangible value and future potential revenues don’t seem to go as far here as they do in the US. It’s all about the numbers. Also, I’ve been extremely surprised by the business community’s knowledge and passion for sport that is not cricket. I was warned by many to be wary of coming to this market because “cricket is king.” That is definitely the case, but this past year has taught me that there is a fresh, new excitement around growing other sports in India.

Harmit: Many thanks for taking the time to speak with us.