Professional Management Group
Encyclopedia
Professional Management Group (PMG) is India's first sports management company started in 1985 by Sunil Gavaskar
and Sumedh Shah.
PMG is the only company in India
that offers diverse services in the field of sports. Though PMG has been closely associated with cricket
, it also has services in other sports such as golf
, squash
, horse racing
, hockey
, bodybuilding
, archery
and water sports.
Since its inception, PMG has worked at establishing asynergy between sports, business and communications. In the late eighties, PMG updated the fledgling Indian sports promotion industry by using the medium of print, television and events to promote sports and business establishments. The company has pioneered the concept of syndicated sports columns in India.
PMG produced first-of-its-kind sports programmes for television channels like Doordarshan
, DD Metro
, STAR Sports
and ZEE Network and the first and the highest selling VHS cassette on cricket, Best of One Day Cricket, for Citibank. The company also produced the first and highest selling cookery cassette NESTLE Food Talk Show and the first ever interactive CD ROM and hosted a website on WILLS World Cup 1996.
PMG managed the first ever CEAT International Cricket Awards, the Indian Cricket Awards and the first All India Club Golf Tournament for McDowells.
The idea behind the sponsored syndicated column is that a top level national or international sportsperson writes a column which is then sponsored by an advertiser and syndicated to newspapers throughout the country by PMG. The newspapers get columns written by top-level sportsmen whom they cannot afford to pay if the column was not syndicated and sponsored and readers of even small papers get to know the views of national and international sportsmen.
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...
and Sumedh Shah.
PMG is the only company in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
that offers diverse services in the field of sports. Though PMG has been closely associated with cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, it also has services in other sports such as golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
, horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
, hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
, bodybuilding
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...
, archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
and water sports.
Since its inception, PMG has worked at establishing asynergy between sports, business and communications. In the late eighties, PMG updated the fledgling Indian sports promotion industry by using the medium of print, television and events to promote sports and business establishments. The company has pioneered the concept of syndicated sports columns in India.
PMG produced first-of-its-kind sports programmes for television channels like Doordarshan
DoorDarshan
Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
, DD Metro
DD Metro
DD Metro also known as DD 2 was Doordarshan's Hindi language general entertainment channel. At the time, DD Metro was on air, the channel was kept as a terrestrial channel, instead of exclusive satellite channel. However, it was available on many of the cable operators in India...
, STAR Sports
STAR Sports
STAR Sports is a cable sports network owned by STAR TV and ESPN. It shows sports programs. In partnership with ESPN, its corporate name is ESPN STAR Sports. They are the official Asian station of the Barclays Premier League...
and ZEE Network and the first and the highest selling VHS cassette on cricket, Best of One Day Cricket, for Citibank. The company also produced the first and highest selling cookery cassette NESTLE Food Talk Show and the first ever interactive CD ROM and hosted a website on WILLS World Cup 1996.
PMG managed the first ever CEAT International Cricket Awards, the Indian Cricket Awards and the first All India Club Golf Tournament for McDowells.
Sponsorship and syndication of print columns
The concept of the sponsored syndicated column was created by PMG in 1986. This concept had not been used before in India.The idea behind the sponsored syndicated column is that a top level national or international sportsperson writes a column which is then sponsored by an advertiser and syndicated to newspapers throughout the country by PMG. The newspapers get columns written by top-level sportsmen whom they cannot afford to pay if the column was not syndicated and sponsored and readers of even small papers get to know the views of national and international sportsmen.