Pro Kabaddi at 12: A league that's growing by leaps and bounds
The Pro Kabaddi League has reached its 12th season, rivalling the longevity of the IPL
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.
topics
