What’s the story?
The Pro Kabaddi League will now be known as the Vivo Pro Kabaddi League after the Chinese mobile phone manufacturing company was announced as the competition’s title sponsor. The deal has been signed for a period of five years, making it the company’s second association with a sporting league in India after the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The biggest announcement, however, is that the sport of Kabaddi will see an investment of a mammoth Rs. 300 crores, a sum previously unheard of in the sport of Kabaddi. This sum will be utilised over the course of 5 years to help the indigenious sport continue its mammoth growth.
Sanjay Gupta, the Managing Director of Star India said that Vivo coming on board is a significant milestone for the league. He said, “We are delighted to have Vivo as our title sponsor. They share a common vision with us to make PKL one of the best leagues in the world.”
Also present at the event was Kent Cheng, CEO of Vivo India. “We are thrilled to announce this deal. This association is important for us as the PKL has reached amazing heights and now stands as one of the most successful in the world,” he said.
The announcement comes just before the commencement of the next season, which is all set to begin in the coming months. It is expected to be the biggest season so far and is likely to feature a total of 12 teams.
In case you didn’t know...
The league has gone from strength to strength over the last four seasons and has made kabaddi the second most popular sport in the country. The latest edition was held in June last year, with the Patna Pirates winning their second trophy in a row.
The heart of the matter
It will make the Pro Kabaddi League the biggest sporting league in the country, featuring over 130 matches spread across a 13-week period. An announcement regarding the location and names of the new teams is expected in the next 10 days.
So far, it has featured eight teams – from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Jaipur, Patna and Hyderabad/Vizag, covering seven states. The states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are expected to feature the four new teams, which would mean representation from 11 states. This means the PKL will surpass the IPL in terms of geographic coverage.
Haryana and Tamil Nadu already have a large pool of local players, who play in the PKL as well as for other teams. Gujarat, which hosted the inaugural World Cup, also saw a tremendous increase in public following.
What’s next?
Vivo’s partnership is expected to take the league to greater heights as it looks to expand in India as well as across the world.
Author’s Take
The previous four seasons have shown the enormous potential that kabaddi possesses and such big-money associations will help popularise the sport. All eyes are now on Season 5, which is expected to be bigger than ever!
