Pro Kabaddi at 12: A league that's growing by leaps and bounds
The recent auctions for the upcoming 12th season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), in which 10 players were recruited for over ₹1 crore each, is an indicator of the league's progression.
Ahead of the first season in 2014, the highest bid was for Rakesh Kumar, who went for ₹12.8 lakh. Last Saturday, Gujarat Giants got Iranian Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh for ₹2.23 crore, a little more than the ₹2.20 crore paid by Bengal Warriorz for Devank Dalal. It was a spotty auction as 12 teams bid for more than 500 players, with the inevitable hits and misses.
Pawan Sehrawat, who went for ₹2.60 crore to Telugu Titans in 2023, barely made it through this time, getting ₹59.50 lakh from Tamil Thalaivas as most team principals seemed to focus on younger players. U Mumba, for instance, paid ₹78 lakh for unheralded Aanil Mohan while Pardeep Narwal, the most successful raider in PKL across seasons, went unsold. The three-time champion with Patna Pirates promptly announced his retirement.
Also read: How kabaddi went from a game of strength to one of speed
For a league that started under reasonable scepticism, a 12th season itself is evidence of accomplishment considering no other sporting league, barring the Indian Premier League (IPL) in cricket, has survived this long. Star Sports, which owns a majority stake in the league, declared its season 10 viewership to be over 225 million, making it the only sport besides cricket to get those kinds of numbers. Stakeholders in the league credit the sport's indigenous origins to its popularity, besides the brevity of matches, the athleticism of its exponents, the overall packaging of the league by the broadcaster, for its success. Broadcast is one of the biggest reasons for any sport or league to be followed and it helps PKL that Star Sports has a stake in it.
'Since the broadcaster has a sizeable control over the league, now Jio Star… You need a strong broadcasting partner because the reach of such games is important. Lots of leagues have not survived because the broadcaster was not invested (enough)," says Sanjay Adesara, the chief business officer of Adani Sportsline, which has the Gujarat Giants team in the PKL. Gujarat is one of the relatively newer entrants into the league, joining it since PKL expanded from eight to 12 teams from the fifth season in 2017. The upcoming one will be this team's eighth season, without any titles and therefore financial sustainability is still some distance away, Adesara adds.
DEMAND AND SUPPLY
One of the league's salient features is that only two teams, Patna Pirates (seasons 3-5) and Jaipur Pink Panthers (seasons 1, 9), have won the title more than once. Almost every other season has a new winner, which has a significant impact on the teams because titles lead to more visibility, following and sponsorship deals. 'In an auction, you have to be a bit fluid and flexible," adds Adesara. 'The auction is about demand and supply. No plan goes through for anyone. One should be quick to readjust. The league is always about supply of talent, how you build your teams with multiple seasons in mind, which gives all 12 teams an equal chance."
The equality among the teams, some believe, adds to the league's popularity because it makes the PKL result difficult to predict. A title, however, adds to a team's brand value and popularity. 'Makes a difference to the base definitely, as we get more traction," says Kailash Kandpal, the chief executive officer of Insurekot Sports Pvt. Ltd which owns the Puneri Paltan team in the PKL, while talking about the team's first title win in 2023. 'It impacts the popularity of the team; expectation then rises from fans, from sponsors, from the promoters of the team. We then need a repeat performance. You got to have it, if you are a champion, you have to win many times."
Apurv Gupta, director of contact sports at Capri Sports and the chief executive officer of Bengal Warriorz, which won the league in season seven, adds, 'It's a competitive league when you have several champions. It tells us that PKL is competitive, is exciting, difficult to predict who will win." Capri Sports' interest in PKL is indicative of the bullish attitude towards the league. An initiative of Capri Global Holdings, a financial firm, Capri Sports took over the Bengal team in 2023 after initially investing in International League T20 (ILT20) cricket, and subsequently expanding with teams across different sports such as the UP Warriorz (Women's Premier League cricket), Sharjah Warriors (ILT20) in the UAE and Rajasthan Warriors (Ultimate Kho Kho).
GROWING VIEWERSHIP
'This modernised version of a sport that originated in India has the new generation tuning into it. Just the way it's been packaged, broadcast, structured, with rule changes like the do-or-die raid or the super tackle, contribute to its success," adds Gupta. 'There is something happening every 30 seconds in the game," says Kandpal. 'You need only 40 minutes to watch a match which helps when attention spans are reducing. Game duration plays a big role."
All team promoters view the success of the league from the lens of its growing, 200-million-plus viewership, bigger talent pool of athletes, younger stars breaking through the ranks and some less tangible ones. 'You see younger guys trying to innovate, find the best way to tackle and raid. It's a subtle yet critical sign of success, as athletes find better ways of playing, competitiveness evolves," believes Gupta.
Several franchise owners, like Capri Sports, have teams in other leagues as well and therefore have a better understanding of the country's sporting landscape. 'PKL was one of our first in sports," says Adesara, of Adani Sportsline which also has teams in the ILT20 and WPL. 'Kabaddi being an indigenous sport, was the biggest touch point for us. It's played all over the country, everyone's played it," he adds, which makes it both an approachable and aspirational sport.
Arun Janardhan is a Mumbai-based journalist who covers sports, business leaders and lifestyle. He posts @iArunJ.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
18 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Trump travel ban: Will Iran travel for 2026 FIFA World Cup?
USA, Canada, and Mexico are all set to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup together. However, President Donald Trump's latest travel ban has posed questions about whether certain qualified countries will now be allowed to travel to the US and take part. Starting Monday (June 9), citizens of 12 countries will no longer be allowed to get a US visa, according to a recent decision by Trump. Citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen have been banned by Trump and tighter restrictions have been applied to seven other nations (Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela). Trump explained his move by stating in a video, 'The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country, by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don't want them.' As of now, Iran is the only country from the list to have already qualified to compete in the FIFA World Cup next year. Cuba, Sudan, and Haiti are currently in contention to contest. Venezuela is five points off the threshold for automatic qualification but a playoff might just cut the deal. Sierra Leone can still be involved through multiple playoff games while Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, and Libya have very slim chances. Under the current policy, sports teams of qualifying countries should still be able to contest since such a provision have been provided for 'any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state.' However, this exception will only continue as long as there is no change to the current ban policy adopted by the US. Iranian fans hoping to catch their national team in the spotlight won't be so lucky however since the policy provides no such exceptions for fans of sporting teams. Getting an American visa had already been tough for Iranians even before the ban was implemented due to tougher vetting procedures. However, considering how those indulging in international travel for sporting events are usually from a higher wealth bracket, such individuals could still try to circumvent the process by using different passport options. The move has stirred a debate about the intersection of politics with global sport. Back in 2017, FIFA President Gianni Infantino had said, "Any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup." Infantino has since developed close ties with Trump and has re-emphasized that sporting teams of all countries will face no barriers in coming to the US for participation next year. The event is expected to raise a majority of the soccer body's revenue in the 2023-2026 period. Questions have also been raised about the US' legitimacy to hold the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games with such strict travel policies against certain participating countries.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Iranians' World Cup dream crushed by US travel ban
A year out from kick-off, Iranian football fans are watching their World Cup dream slip away after a US travel ban barred them from entering the land of "Great Satan" to cheer on their team. The 2026 tournament will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, but most matches, including the final, are scheduled to be played on American soil. Many in Iran had clung to hopes of cheering from the stands until Wednesday when US President Donald Trump rolled out a new travel ban on 12 countries including Iran, which will take effect from Monday. "My friends and I have been waiting for years to watch Team Melli play in a World Cup on US soil, and when they qualified, it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Sohrab Naderi, a real estate agent in Tehran, told AFP. "Now with the new travel ban, that dream is shattered because of politics that we don't care about and have no control over," said the 46-year-old who attended the 2022 World Cup in Qatar which saw the US side defeat Iran 1-0 in the group stage. The prospect of Iran competing in a US-hosted tournament comes against the backdrop of a decades-long enmity, with diplomatic ties broken since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The two sides are currently engaged in high-stakes talks over Iran's nuclear programme, with the United States threatening military action if no deal can be reached. Trump said the new travel ban was prompted by a makeshift flamethrower attack on a Jewish protest in Colorado that US authorities blamed on a man they said was in the country illegally. The ban will not apply to athletes competing in either the 2026 World Cup or the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the order said. Nonetheless, supporters who had dreamed of crossing the Atlantic to cheer on their team will no longer be able to make the trip. "Every Iranian has the right to support their team, just as much as any other country, whether the game is in America or in any other country," said Hasti Teymourpour, a 16-year-old football fan. Since his return to office in January, Trump has reinstated his "maximum pressure" policy of sanctions against Iran and vowed that "something bad" would happen unless the Iranians "move quickly" towards a nuclear deal. Naderi, who called the ban "inhumane" and "degrading to all Iranians", still hopes the Iran-US nuclear talks will yield a deal that might persuade Trump to reconsider. The outcome of the US-Iran talks that began in April remains unclear, and many fans worry that even if they result in a deal, it may be too late for them. Some Iranians have refused to give up hope, however, seeing in the World Cup an opportunity to thaw relations. "Sports diplomacy can act as a strong catalyst and bring the efforts of political diplomats to fruition sooner," said political commentator Mohammad Reza Manafi. It could be "a great opportunity to help advance diplomacy between the two countries". In a memorable 1998 World Cup clash, Iranian players handed flowers to their American adversaries and posed together for photos a rare public gesture of goodwill between the nations. Iran won 2-1, a victory celebrated in Tehran as a source of both sporting and political pride. With the 2026 draw expected in December, it remains unclear whether Iran and the United States will face off again, but anticipation is building. "The two countries are not hostile to each other, this political discussion is for the governments," said 44-year-old day labourer Siamak Kalantari. Another fan, Mahdieh Olfati, said: "If we face the US again, we'll definitely win." "Ours are real players," the 18-year-old added. Manafi, the commentator, said a friendly before the tournament, possibly hosted by a third country, could help ease tensions. Such a game, he said, could help "achieve what politicians from both sides have not managed to do for years". pdm/mz/ser THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY
Mint
2 days ago
- Mint
Pro Kabaddi at 12: A league that's growing by leaps and bounds
The recent auctions for the upcoming 12th season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), in which 10 players were recruited for over ₹1 crore each, is an indicator of the league's progression. Ahead of the first season in 2014, the highest bid was for Rakesh Kumar, who went for ₹12.8 lakh. Last Saturday, Gujarat Giants got Iranian Mohammadreza Shadloui Chiyaneh for ₹2.23 crore, a little more than the ₹2.20 crore paid by Bengal Warriorz for Devank Dalal. It was a spotty auction as 12 teams bid for more than 500 players, with the inevitable hits and misses. Pawan Sehrawat, who went for ₹2.60 crore to Telugu Titans in 2023, barely made it through this time, getting ₹59.50 lakh from Tamil Thalaivas as most team principals seemed to focus on younger players. U Mumba, for instance, paid ₹78 lakh for unheralded Aanil Mohan while Pardeep Narwal, the most successful raider in PKL across seasons, went unsold. The three-time champion with Patna Pirates promptly announced his retirement. Also read: How kabaddi went from a game of strength to one of speed For a league that started under reasonable scepticism, a 12th season itself is evidence of accomplishment considering no other sporting league, barring the Indian Premier League (IPL) in cricket, has survived this long. Star Sports, which owns a majority stake in the league, declared its season 10 viewership to be over 225 million, making it the only sport besides cricket to get those kinds of numbers. Stakeholders in the league credit the sport's indigenous origins to its popularity, besides the brevity of matches, the athleticism of its exponents, the overall packaging of the league by the broadcaster, for its success. Broadcast is one of the biggest reasons for any sport or league to be followed and it helps PKL that Star Sports has a stake in it. 'Since the broadcaster has a sizeable control over the league, now Jio Star… You need a strong broadcasting partner because the reach of such games is important. Lots of leagues have not survived because the broadcaster was not invested (enough)," says Sanjay Adesara, the chief business officer of Adani Sportsline, which has the Gujarat Giants team in the PKL. Gujarat is one of the relatively newer entrants into the league, joining it since PKL expanded from eight to 12 teams from the fifth season in 2017. The upcoming one will be this team's eighth season, without any titles and therefore financial sustainability is still some distance away, Adesara adds. DEMAND AND SUPPLY One of the league's salient features is that only two teams, Patna Pirates (seasons 3-5) and Jaipur Pink Panthers (seasons 1, 9), have won the title more than once. Almost every other season has a new winner, which has a significant impact on the teams because titles lead to more visibility, following and sponsorship deals. 'In an auction, you have to be a bit fluid and flexible," adds Adesara. 'The auction is about demand and supply. No plan goes through for anyone. One should be quick to readjust. The league is always about supply of talent, how you build your teams with multiple seasons in mind, which gives all 12 teams an equal chance." The equality among the teams, some believe, adds to the league's popularity because it makes the PKL result difficult to predict. A title, however, adds to a team's brand value and popularity. 'Makes a difference to the base definitely, as we get more traction," says Kailash Kandpal, the chief executive officer of Insurekot Sports Pvt. Ltd which owns the Puneri Paltan team in the PKL, while talking about the team's first title win in 2023. 'It impacts the popularity of the team; expectation then rises from fans, from sponsors, from the promoters of the team. We then need a repeat performance. You got to have it, if you are a champion, you have to win many times." Apurv Gupta, director of contact sports at Capri Sports and the chief executive officer of Bengal Warriorz, which won the league in season seven, adds, 'It's a competitive league when you have several champions. It tells us that PKL is competitive, is exciting, difficult to predict who will win." Capri Sports' interest in PKL is indicative of the bullish attitude towards the league. An initiative of Capri Global Holdings, a financial firm, Capri Sports took over the Bengal team in 2023 after initially investing in International League T20 (ILT20) cricket, and subsequently expanding with teams across different sports such as the UP Warriorz (Women's Premier League cricket), Sharjah Warriors (ILT20) in the UAE and Rajasthan Warriors (Ultimate Kho Kho). GROWING VIEWERSHIP 'This modernised version of a sport that originated in India has the new generation tuning into it. Just the way it's been packaged, broadcast, structured, with rule changes like the do-or-die raid or the super tackle, contribute to its success," adds Gupta. 'There is something happening every 30 seconds in the game," says Kandpal. 'You need only 40 minutes to watch a match which helps when attention spans are reducing. Game duration plays a big role." All team promoters view the success of the league from the lens of its growing, 200-million-plus viewership, bigger talent pool of athletes, younger stars breaking through the ranks and some less tangible ones. 'You see younger guys trying to innovate, find the best way to tackle and raid. It's a subtle yet critical sign of success, as athletes find better ways of playing, competitiveness evolves," believes Gupta. Several franchise owners, like Capri Sports, have teams in other leagues as well and therefore have a better understanding of the country's sporting landscape. 'PKL was one of our first in sports," says Adesara, of Adani Sportsline which also has teams in the ILT20 and WPL. 'Kabaddi being an indigenous sport, was the biggest touch point for us. It's played all over the country, everyone's played it," he adds, which makes it both an approachable and aspirational sport. Arun Janardhan is a Mumbai-based journalist who covers sports, business leaders and lifestyle. He posts @iArunJ.
