The Indonesian government is currently undertaking a fundamental paradigm shift in managing the sports sector. While sports budgets were previously seen as social expenditures or passive cost burdens, policy focus is now directed toward transforming sports into a productive sector capable of contributing revenue to state coffers.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Erick Thohir, emphasized that sports must be managed with a sustainable business logic. Concrete steps have been taken through massive deregulation, namely simplifying 191 ministerial regulations into four core regulations. One of these new pillars specifically governs the Sports Industry and Sport Tourism, designed to provide legal certainty and streamline licensing for professional sports event organizers.
This policy aligns with President Prabowo Subianto's ambitious target to spur national economic growth by 8 percent. Given the global sport tourism market potential reaching over IDR 9,800 trillion, the government is optimistic that integrating sports into the economic ecosystem will serve as significant leverage while reducing reliance on traditional manufacturing or raw commodities.
At the local level, this potential is beginning to show through economic turnover in domestic leagues, such as football and basketball. Although transaction values have reached hundreds of billions of rupiah, economic experts believe these figures can still be significantly increased. With a population of over 280 million and high sports fanaticism, Indonesia possesses strong social capital to build a financially independent sports ecosystem through more massive private sector involvement.
