After joining the Warriors' ownership, Vivek Ranadivé is looking to bring NBA to India

Remember Vivek Ranadivé? The Mumbai-native who headed to Silicon Valley, become a super-rich software mogul as founder and of software company TIBCO, and recently became vice-chairman of GSW Sports LLC Executive Board, the group that has bought ownership of NBA team Golden State Warriors? Ranadivé became the first Indian owner of an NBA team, and you go here to get a recap of Ranadivé and his new stint with the Warriors.

Well, anyways, now that he is in the NBA-ownership business too now, Ranadivé has expressed his desire to 'bring the NBA to India'. The NBA, however, is already here, well, and bumping, but Ranadivé's efforts and influence can only help the cause.

From The Economic Times:

"We will work closely with the NBA to help make it a global sport and bring it to India," Ranadivé says.

Ranadivé, author of best-selling books such as The Power of Now and The Power to Predict expects "NBA India" to succeed because he sees the basketball-viewing and playing culture sinking in easily in the country. He notes that "in a country that doesn't have much space thanks to high density of population, this is a game which can be played in smaller courts", unlike cricket, the most popular game in the country, and soccer. "Look at how popular the league is in China (the NBA was launched in China only two years ago). Similarly, it will be a huge hit in India."
The NBA has successfully promoted the game in the world's most populous nation by drafting players, notably icons such as Yao Ming, holding exhibition matches as well as through media tie-ups and other partnerships.
Ranadivé, who has vowed to make the Warriors the best "21st century" basketball team, plans to hire the best talent from across the world.
Currently, the NBA has a presence in India, but not in the form of a professional league. The Mahindra group has partnered the Association for a grassroots-level basketball league to promote the game and train the youth in the country.
On the other hand, Ranadivé will galvanise efforts to bring the NBA professional league to the country. That would involve forming a domestic unit, hiring local players, holding exhibition matches of professional teams and entering into partnerships with corporates and others to promote the game.

Although Ranadivé isn't necessarily saying anything that hasn't already been said about the potential for growth of NBA and basketball in India, I'm glad that he is showing interest. An Indian NBA owner can only be good for India.

Here's hoping that Ranadivé can have greater success with his NBA in India plan than he is currently having with the Warriors. Starting the season at an impressive 7-4 up till the day of the new company's takeover (November 15), the Warriors have since been sliding, and have only won one game since. Their current record is a dismal 8-15.

Ranadivé's company TIBCO, of which he is chairman, CEO, and founder, has its India unit in Pune. The article quoted above also mentions that TIBCO is looking up to set up a facility very soon in Hyderabad, too.

Indian software mogul becomes owner of the Golden State Warriors

So what if Indian basketball players are still several years away from being good enough to play in the NBA? India leads the world in other fields - particularly software, and business acumen. Mumbai's Vivek Ranadivé, who is the chairman, CEO, and founder of computer software company TIBCO, took up ownership of the Golden State Warriors last week as the vice-chairman of GSW Sports LLC Executive Board. Ranadivé is the first Indian owner of an NBA team, and could open the flood gates for many more Indian entrepreneurs looking to invest in basketball.

The CEO and governor of the ownership group is Joe Lacob.

Ranadivé, a 53-year-old businessman, grew up in Juhu, Mumbai, and has been a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and postgraduate from the famed Harvard Business School. He founded TIBCO in 1997, which is "an infrastructure software company, [that] uses technology to help companies bridge the gap between the time something happens and the understanding of that event."

Ranadivé has also authored two books: The Power of Now (1999) and The Power of Predict (2006).

Here are more interesting details from Desi Hits:

Ranadive does not play basketball, however he is a big fan of the Golden State Warriors and has been a ticket holder for many years. He also coached his daughter Anjali's basketball team and helped the girls win a championship.
Seeing that the team consisted of 12 year old girls who weren't very tall and didn't have a lot of experience playing basketball he knew he had to come up with a strategy to help them succeed. He made the decision to have the girls do a full-court press for the whole game, and it worked out.
He hopes to use this out-of-the-box thinking with the Golden State Warriors as well.

He added "The areas that I hope to bring to the table in making the Warriors a 21st century team: I will help with everything from fan base managing customer loyalty programs, structure, community outreach and game play. I would also like to help make it a global brand, especially helping to popularize it in the Indian community."

This is exciting news, both from an Indian point of view and for Golden State Warrior fans. The Warriors have been an up-and-coming squad this season, boasting the talents of Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, and David Lee who have given them one of their best starts in several years. They have lost a few games since then and currently hold a 7-7 record.

My next question is this: how soon before Vijay Mallya buys the Knicks?