Fans deserve a better deal from sports administrators

Hindustan Times

15 hours ago

The aftermath of the Bengaluru stampede made for an interesting case study. The police, the politicians, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the franchise were all in a race to shirk responsibility and put the blame on someone else. 'The fans were uncontrollable,' said deputy chief minister of Karnataka DK Shivakumar. BCCI quickly issued a statement saying that they had no role in the event. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) said 'the unfortunate incident' only came to light through media reports. The police, meanwhile, said they had not expected so many people to turn up and only deployed 1,000 personnel to manage the lakhs who turned up. While the compensation and financial support announced will help, it isn't the long-term solution India needs.
The incident in Bengaluru was tragic, but the reality is that almost every well-attended Indian sporting event could so easily turn into a stampede. People (even if they are senior citizens) are made to walk long distances to the stadium because the parking lots are kilometres away, then they stand in line for hours and finally, enter through bottlenecks with police and private security ever-ready to use the omnipresent lathis.
If that isn't enough to make you lose your cool, then comes the actual experience of the game itself. The view from the stands is poor, the toilets stink and the food often runs out. Some stadiums don't even offer the comfort of shade. That this happens in cricket, the most popular game in India, and one managed by the world's richest cricket board, suggests that it is likely the case in other sports as well.
It's not that the tickets come cheap. In Bengaluru, the tickets during the IPL 2025 season went for anything between ₹2,300 and ₹42,000. At the top end, this is comparable to prices elsewhere in the world. But if stadium experiences were to be ranked, India would rank somewhere near the bottom.
In Australia, by contrast, getting into a stadium means getting dropped by car right at the gate. There are so many volunteers around that help is never far away for the elderly, every stand has spots for the physically disabled and when it is too sunny, they hand out free sunscreen too. One would imagine Cricket Australia makes a lot more money than the BCCI, but it is not even close.
To the Indian sports administrator, the fans are little more than cattle. Huddle them in, fill the stands, make them cheer the team and ignore their complaints. For even if they do, there are more than enough people waiting to take your place in the stands. While the number of fans is a boon for the sport, it is a curse for the fans themselves.
The stampede must serve as a wake-up call for BCCI, which runs IPL as one of its subcommittees and earns millions of dollars from it. They must put in place protocols for any such celebration so as to ensure no human lives are lost in future. But it shouldn't end there.
Addressing poor stadium conditions, improving ticket access, and fostering a more welcoming environment is important but showing empathy for the fans is a must. After all, who does the Indian team play for? Who does RCB (or any other team) play for?
So many people turned up at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru because the messaging around the passes wasn't clear: It was done just a few hours before the event. Then, that is what people usually do for games: Turn up and there are usually a few passes or tickets to be had — for a price of course.
Administrators argue that the fans don't know better but the fans could argue that neither do the administrators. The voice of the cricket fan on subjects like these is ignored.
It is worrying that India now wants to hold mega events such as the Olympics. In November 2024, the Indian Olympic Association formally sent a Letter of Intent to the International Olympic Committee's Future Host Commission expressing India's interest in hosting the Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2036. The infrastructure will be built, the stadiums will shine and the athletes will compete for glory. But what about the fans? Who, other than the lathi-charging policemen, will cater to them?
An estimated 11.2 million people visited the Greater Paris area during the Paris 2024 Olympics — by 2036, the count may be way higher. Does India have a plan in place to deal with this influx? Or will they all be treated like the fans in Bengaluru? The truth is, there is no quick fix for this problem and small but concrete steps will be needed to change things. It may take time but it'll be worth it.
Major events are as much about the fans as they are about the athletes. The experience matters to everyone and unless a stern message is sent to the administrators, things won't improve. Being a fan shouldn't be a dangerous business but in India, it clearly is. If the fans want better, they need to make themselves heard in a way that cannot be ignored. Just imagine the message that empty stadiums will send. Treat fans better or play to the sound of silence.
The views expressed are personal.