KURT WARNER is a former Super Bowl MVP and an early investor in the Elite Football League of India. The subcontinent's first and only professional American football league made its debut in '12 and is scheduled to kick off its second season this November. As a league investor, Warner has followed the EFLI's development over the last three years. During that time, the EFLI expanded from eight to 24 franchises and established partnerships with universities across India to create a feeder system for the league -- EFLIU. Warner spoke with SBD Global about his investment in the EFLI, the importance of college sports and his hopes for the league's impact away from the field.
On why he invested in the EFLI …
Kurt Warner: My background has always been about trying to leave a lasting impact on people. Using the platform that I have to be able to impact people’s lives in a positive way. So when this endeavor was brought to me, obviously there are a lot of things that are intriguing from a business standpoint. There's a lot of unbelievable potential and untapped potential in India, especially in regards to sports, but I think the bigger picture was the idea of being able to build something that I really felt good about, and impact the lives of a lot of people there in a positive way. When you look at our culture here and where sports is and how sports really has presented unbelievable opportunities to a lot of young men and women that probably would have never had those opportunities otherwise. Not just opportunities to play professional sports, but opportunities to gain an education, opportunities to solidify themselves, their purpose, their focus and their skills to have a positive impact and to be able to impact their family, to be able to accomplish things that they’ve always wanted to. I believe that this endeavor presents us with the opportunity to do that in India, to give families and individuals a path to be able to accomplish some things that maybe they never even considered, they never even thought possible. And I believe this is an avenue to allow many young men and women to do that.
On the impact the league has had since its inception …
Warner: I’ve only been able to go over there once, and it was after the first season. But, yes, I’ve already seen families that were impacted. More important, I saw the attitude of people in regards to seeing this as a means to change their path, as a means to change their family’s current situation, and that’s what excites me. People start to see those kinds of opportunities. You go from pro and you continue to trickle down to colleges and building in scholarships and then you infiltrate it at younger stages, where it truly does become a means to a particular end. What I know is in India, education is extremely important, as it should be, and as a father of seven it’s something that’s extremely important to me that my kids go to college and get an education. I’ve got some boys that want to play football, and if that works out and they are fortunate enough to play in the NFL, great. But I understand how rare that is; I understand what a bonus that is. It’s a long process. We are introducing a new game to an entire culture, so to think that it’s going to happen overnight, that’s unrealistic. But I do believe that the potential is there to be able to present that to a lot of people and to be able to change the course of what their life may have been otherwise.
On partnering with Indian universities to grow the game …
Warner: I think that becomes the key, just like in our culture. The earlier and earlier it is introduced, the earlier and earlier it becomes a part of the fabric of a culture. And the more beneficial it’s going to be for those long-term goals such as college scholarships and a professional league. The earlier and earlier you can introduce it, the more beneficial it’s going to be across the board and it’s the same for the athletes. The earlier and earlier they can be introduced to it and come to understand it, the better chance they are going to have of being one of those that set themselves apart and gain a college scholarship or play professionally and gain an income that maybe they couldn’t garner otherwise. It’s vital. In our country what makes sports such a part of the fabric is the fact that kids grow up playing it. They grow up falling in love with it and if they don’t ever make it professionally, they still are fans of it because it is something ingrained in them very early and something that they’ve participated in. So I think those things are critical for the success of our league and being able to accomplish what we want.
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Kurt Warner
Source: EFLI
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On the three-year break between the first and second season ...
Warner: We are learning as we go. A big part of our game is understanding that it’s a physical game and that guys have to be prepared. A big part of how many games we have and how many teams we put out there is making sure they are ready to play. Making sure they are physically capable of playing the game, playing it the right way, understanding how to prevent injuries, those kinds of things, and then play it at a level that we want to play at. We don’t want to just throw people out there. That’s where more of the delays in the seasons have come.
On what determines the success of the investment ...
Warner: I’m realistic to understand that it is a long-term process. For me, a success would be continually being able to grow this, even if it is small growth, but to grow it where eventually it has a dramatic impact on people's lives. I can’t really put a year on that, or a day, but that’s why I invested. I invested to impact people's lives. Not that we haven’t already done that, but I invested to be able to do it to a larger degree. I think at the end of the day that’s going to be what determines how successful it was. How many lives we can say were definitely changed via what we are accomplishing and what we are trying to do over there? A big part of my goal in getting into this was not just the league itself, but also eventually developing a charitable arm from the league that can reach out and impact families, too. Not just those that are playing football, but being able to reach out through our sponsors and money that’s made to really feed back into the culture and impact lives that way. All of those things are going to factor into what I see as a success. But I haven’t really put a timetable on it because I think it’s just too hard when you are trying to introduce something new to put a timetable on it. It’s just hard to determine [a timetable] when you are going into a new culture, introducing a new sport and building relationships that way.
Hangin' With runs each Friday in SBD Global.
