Those that thought Indian sports activities was a one-horse race, with cricket the one winner, now spot one other contender on the observe taking fast strides—on India’s skilled sporting league panorama, the Professional Kabaddi League (PKL) is now a severe participant.

However first, some context. Movies rule in India, as does cricket, but each are comparable and totally different. Collectively, movies and sports activities are a part of our cultural legacy. Movies observe a script, and if one thing connects with viewers, the ‘method’ turns into king, and success is then blindly repeated. Usually, this does not work as a result of copies lack the magic of the unique. The identical is true of sports activities as a result of they’re intrinsically unpredictable, and failure—not success—is the norm.

The IPL’s astonishing success spawned many cloned sporting ventures, however, not surprisingly, they collapsed commercially. On this dreadful state of affairs of damaged initiatives, the PKL stands out as a runaway winner—a 10-year-old startup steadily going north. Right this moment, aside from the IPL, the PKL is India’s solely skilled sports activities league that is caught the eye of followers, sponsors, and viewers. Remarkably, it’s in strong monetary well being whereas different leagues are bleeding.

Let’s push the pause button for a second to know the how and why of the PKL. To the game’s observers, the PKL initially was a nonstarter with many destructive strikes in opposition to it: rustic rural picture, lack of a pan-India base, sophisticated guidelines, and far else. The problem then was to repackage kabaddi to make it modern—a activity as tough as persuading these residing on parathas/ pakoras/ puris to shift to pizzas and protein shakes.

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The PKL gave kabaddi a shocking makeover, shifting it from ‘maidan to mat’ and outside to indoor; guidelines had been simplified, and the format tweaked. Results of this sports activities engineering? A snazzy, glitzy, television-friendly product that had nice viewer attraction. With STAR (half proprietor) offering financial muscle and aggressive promotion, the PKL took off. The masterstroke was PKL, whereas impressed by IPL, didn’t imitate it. Right this moment, 10 seasons since its launch, its tv attain is roughly 50 % of that of the IPL.

The industrial numbers aren’t any much less spectacular, and all stakeholders have caught the upside. The PKL began with eight groups and later expanded to 12 groups, most with the same old ‘fighter’ names equivalent to Warriorz/ Bulls/ Giants/ Titans / Yodhas, however one—Patna Pirates—stands out with its fascinating title. The vast majority of PKL staff homeowners, particularly the unique eight, are smiling as a result of they’ve optimistic stability sheets—marginally so—in addition to robust market valuations.

The annual franchise expense (excluding the franchise price) ranges between Rs 10-12 crore. Nonetheless, revenues (the central share from the league and native franchise sponsorships) are rising 12 months on 12 months, and with the chance of rising media worth going ahead, the financial viability of the PKL seems optimistic.

Apart from staff homeowners, PKL athletes have benefitted as a result of salaries have jumped dramatically. In PKL Season 1, Rakesh Kumar was the highest-priced participant at Rs12.8 lakhs. A decade later, Pawan Sehrawat was bid for Rs2.65 crore; this 12 months, eight gamers crossed the Rs1 crore mark. Trying on the bigger image, greater than industrial numbers, kabaddi is the winner with the PKL. The general high quality of play is best with overseas gamers; trendy services, improved assist employees, and scientific backing are different huge positives.  Importantly, curiosity among the many youth is excessive; teaching academies have sprung up in all places, and the game has touched new followers and unfold throughout India. Earlier, it was fashionable in Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. Now, it has a big footprint in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and different new territories.

This isn’t to recommend that challenges do not exist. Whereas the league’s success is obvious, there’s a must increase the expertise pool to make sure long-term sustainability. The PKL is addressing this difficulty by way of expanded grassroots initiatives, youth improvement programmes, and native tournaments.

The PKL operates for about three months every year earlier than lapsing right into a dormant section. Groups wrestle to stay related outdoors the season, which impacts model improvement—a vital consideration for staff homeowners who invested within the PKL with the expectation of valuation progress. That is the prize they’re competing for.

For PKL, the highway forward is promising, however some uneven bumps have to be straightened out. The league requires a bigger participant pool and a robust expertise pathway from the junior stage as much as feed the principle senior league. With PKL, a lot progress has been achieved by way of participant improvement and accessibility. With extra alternatives and higher rewards, hopefully, the gamers might be free from being compelled to seek for trivial jobs to make ends meet and can have the ability to commit themselves to full-time aggressive kabaddi.

That’ll take time, however because the PKL caravan rolls out in season eleven, there may be heaps to admire and applaud. In India’s non-cricket industrial ecosystem, kabaddi is a shining instance of a sport reinventing itself to attach with followers. It’s a uncommon success story.

Amrit Mathur has labored intently with the BCCI and has served because the media supervisor of the Indian cricket staff throughout a number of high-profile excursions.