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Prime Volleyball League: the prudent, viable revolution that is being televised
Tuhin Mishra was looking for a sport that could catch the imagination of the television audience. He also wanted it to be a sport in which the national team had the potential to climb the ladder in the global arena. Volleyball fitted the bill, he found out.
That was some seven years ago. The Prime Volleyball League has not just injected badly needed fresh life into the sport in India, but it continues to attract new investors as well. Goa Guardians became the league's 10th team ahead of the player-auction at Kozhikode earlier this month.
Growing viewership
Tuhin, who was in the northern Kerala city, is excited that the fourth edition of the league could have a wider audience with YouTube streaming the action across the world. 'Last season alone, the television viewership, according to BARC, was close to 200 million, which is a huge number for a non-cricket league in India,' the league's co-founder tells The Hindu . 'The league's growth over the last couple of years has, in fact, been really good.'
The Prime Volleyball League wasn't always the Prime Volleyball League, though. Back in 2019, Tuhin's Baseline Ventures, in partnership with the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI), had launched Pro Volley. That league, however, lasted just one season. From the indoor court, Pro Volley moved to a court of law after the VFI terminated the 10-year contract. Baseline won the case, in straight sets, as it were: the VFI was ordered to pay Rs. 4.5 crore as compensation.
After a break of three years, the Prime Volleyball League took off. Calicut Heroes, which won Season 3 last year, was also one of the teams in Pro Volley. The franchise's owner, P.T. Safeer, says his passion for the game was shared by his partners at the Kozhikode-based Beacon Group. 'We used to conduct volleyball tournaments and then formed a club,' he says. 'When Pro Volley took off, we wanted to be part of it.'
'We had faith in volleyball,' says Tuhin. 'Pro Volley was a success; good crowds came to watch the games, the television numbers were good, and major corporates, like Rupay, Nippon Paint and Bank of Baroda, came on board as sponsors.'
There are also sponsors for the franchises in the Prime Volleyball League. 'Sponsors take quite a bit of pressure off us,' says Safeer. 'Yes, we know it will take some time for the league to break even, but we are willing to wait.'
Tuhin believes it could take only another three to four years for that to happen. 'Even IPL franchises took 10 years to break even,' he says. 'Actually some of our teams are almost there already.'
The league should be among the most prudently managed ones out there. The entire tournament is held at one venue, over a month, thus saving on the cost of logistics. And look at the way the players' salaries are capped. The fattest paycheque this year is Rs. 22.5 lakh. Exorbitant salaries have proved rather costly for some leagues in India, with players getting paid the kind of money they would not have dreamt of.
Slow and steady
'Yes, that was something we were very conscious of,' says Tuhin. 'With our background in sports management, having handled careers of several athletes, we know where the problem is when it comes to the viability of a professional league. The biggest problem is trying to pay the players too much. Every league is not an IPL. The growth in salary has to be realistic; it has to be slow and steady.'
Still for Indian players, the money in the Prime Volleyball League is really good, because they used to be paid a pittance earlier. Tom Joseph, one of the finest Indian volleyball has ever produced, says that although organisers made a lot of money from hosting regular tournaments — volleyball is insanely popular in small towns in northern Kerala, where over 10,000 fans fill makeshift galleries — players like him would not be adequately compensated or even given proper accommodation.
'Even after I have played for India, I remember sleeping on benches at a school for a National championship, and now the Prime Volleyball players are provided accommodation in five-star hotels,' says Tom, who was the head coach of Hyderabad Black Hawks in 2023. 'In my time, a top player would get only Rs. 25,000 or 30,000 for an entire season, in which we would be playing a dozen tournaments over several months. Now from the Prime Volleyball League, even an average player would get Rs. 5 lakh, that too playing for just a month.'
Tom points out countries like Iran and Qatar had similar leagues in his playing days. 'I have played in Qatar, and because of those leagues, the national teams of those countries have improved greatly,' says the former India captain. 'Iran used to be ranked No. 8 or 9 in Asia, behind India, and now it is No. 2.'
He says because of the league, more young talents are coming through. 'Look at a player like Jasjodh Singh from Punjab, he was picked up for Rs. 14.75 lakh by Kochi Blue Spikers even though he is not an international,' says Tom. 'Volleyball is now looking attractive for youngsters. And because of the league, Indian volleyball is getting new talents, such as K. Anand, E.J. John Joseph, K. Rahul and T.R. Sethu.'
That, says Tuhin, is one of the aims of the league. 'We want to see the Indian volleyball team faring well at the international level, and everyone's dream is to see India playing at the Olympics,' he says. 'And the talent is there, and we are improving our ranking, too. Even FIVB, the international volleyball governing body, is keen about India; they have appointed a coach for India, Dragan Mihailovic, and they are paying him.'
Reasons for optimism
There is reason for Tuhin to be optimistic. India does not merely have a strong tradition in volleyball — the country has produced world class men like Jimmy George and contested the final of the World under-19 championship in 2003 — but there is also plenty of talent around still. Volleyball is one of the very few truly global sports in which India can aspire to do well.
Tuhin says the game is getting increasingly popular, going by the television viewership. 'The best thing about the television audience, we found, is that lots of women and kids are watching the league,' he says. 'It is not just mostly men — as is the case with most sports broadcasts — that tune into the league. The split between men and women is 53-47.'
Safeer believes the league's business model also should help. 'This is a league in which the franchises also have a direct stake in the ownership,' he says. 'So we will get a fair share of the league's profit.'
The Prime Volleyball League indeed has the potential to become one of Indian sport's success stories.
