Sports industry will create ample opportunities in future: Abhishek Bachchan

Courtesy: PTI

Hyderabad: Actor Abhishek Bachchan, who owns the Jaipur Pink Panthers Pro Kabaddi League, on Sunday said the professional sports business as an industry will create more opportunities in the country in the future.

Speaking at the ISB Leadership Summit here, he also said as the demand grows, the sporting industry will attract a lot of foreign investors also.

"Sports is a viable career option not just as a sportsman. But there is an entire community around the team that gets built. Managers, coaches, marketing people. As an industry, I think sports with the infusion of league starting like you have IPL, kabaddi, badminton," he said.

"I think that is going to add to the movement of sports and sports management which is going to be huge employer in future," the 41-year-old actor said.

Beside his PKL team, Bachchan also owns a professional football team.

The expenditure for the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) would be one twentieth of that of IPL (cricket tournament - Indian Premier League), he said.

The viewership was recorded 493 million in the very first season of the PKL, the actor said.

"If we maintain the trajectory that we do now, there is a strong possibility that the viewership of PKL will be higher than the viewership of the IPL," he said.