People began questioning their life choices, whether the work or career path they were on was the right one for them, and whether it was something they loved to do. All over the world, for a multitude of reasons, people, especially millennials, were quitting their jobs in droves. The old adage “do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life” was foremost in their minds.

So what did this social phenomenon mean for the highly passion-driven sports industry, and those aspiring to work in it?

Sportskeeda caught up with Neel Shah, Program Director at the Global Institute of Sports Business (GISB), in an exclusive interview to understand just that. Born and brought up in the United States, Neel started his career at Major League Soccer (MLS), has over 18 years of professional industry experience across continents, and now heads the premier GISB institute based in Mumbai.

On the response seen by GISB during the pandemic and amid this social phenomenon, Neel reflected:

However, Neel was quick to address some of the concerns that were being raised by potential graduate students, especially considering the often fickle nature of the sports industry and the uncertainty of the pandemic:

Navigating such questions is no easy task. Confident about GISB’s product and its ability to make its graduates industry-ready, Neel said:

Delving deeper into the placements process, Neel commented:

Staying on the subject of placements, Neel was quick to dismiss any notions of a “placement day” throughout the industry and had a few words of caution for potential employees in the industry:

While such words of caution reflect the often hailed (and often criticised) relationship-oriented nature of the sports industry, it raises a larger issue.

While breaking into the industry is challenging, job-seekers often tend to narrow their options by only looking at “sports” jobs, without realising that several allied sectors and job functions can help them transition to the industry at a later time as well. This thinking is hammered into their heads by the “do what you love” movement.

A recent article by Galen Watts, a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven, touches upon how the ‘do what you love’ motto could be contributing to the “Great Resignation” that the world has been witnessing since the pandemic. In the article, proponents argue that passion-driven jobs can lead workers to accept harmful working conditions and set unrealistic expectations for themselves.

With the sports industry being the poster child for a passion-driven industry, Neel weighed up the article and phenomenon and asserted:

Touching on GISB’s approach to make sure this trend, as described by Galen Watts, does not grow in the sports industry, Neel added:

With the ebbs and flows of the pandemic for over two years now, few sectors in the economy have been affected as much as the education sector. While the entire education industry continues to be affected in some aspects, the sports education sub-sector had to face some unique challenges, given that the raging pandemic meant that the sports industry they primarily served was probably hit even harder than the education sector.

Acknowledging the difficulties faced by the entire sector over the past two years, Neel said:

On the ability to manoeuvre the pandemic and adapt to student and industry needs, Neel added:

Given that the pandemic also induced an extraordinary amount of personal and professional stress for people, on GISB’s response to this need, Neel commented:

While the Indian sports industry has certainly grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, it can still be said to be finding its feet in some aspects. Since the pandemic largely shrunk what was a fledgling or sunrise industry, one might wonder whether the supply side (the number of people opting for and being admitted into one of the various sports management programs now present in India) is overtaking industry demand for permanent, non-contract basis jobs.

Weighing up on this matter and how GISB’s pivot has seen success, Neel mentioned:

Partnerships and evolving curriculum

No organisation, least of all educational institutions, can afford to not evolve in today’s rapidly-changing world. With GISB launching as a dedicated industry-driven sports business institute in India in 2018-19, it has seen its fair share of changes in its curriculum and the way it goes about its business.

Commenting on the evolving curriculum and what a graduate student can expect to learn at GISB, Neel said:

Any noteworthy business school depends on successful partnerships and good relationships with academic and industry bodies and organisations to be able to deliver on its promises well. Amongst a range of domestic and international partnerships in GISB’s repertoire, notable ones include tie-ups with the Premier League, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Marwah Sports. Reviewing their role in shaping the GISB curriculum and experience, Neel said:

Outlook for 2022 for GISB and the Indian sports industry

Coming to GISB’s plans for 2022 and the current on-campus batch at GISB, which started in January 2022, Neel mentioned:

On how he sees the larger Indian sports industry shaping up in 2022, Neel said in conclusion:

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