2. Pro Kabaddi league
The Pro Kabaddi League was first held in 2014; its founder, Charu Sharma, was influenced by the popularity of the Kabaddi tournament at the 2006 Asian Games, which utilized an indoor version of the game played on a court. Sharma cited the Indian Premier League as an influence on the overall formatting of the competition, noting that “mere sport works well [in India], but if you package it better, it works better.” The PKL uses a franchise-based model; the league began with eight teams, each of which having paid fees of up to US$250,000 to join.
The league now comprises of 12 teams- Haryana Steelers, Dabang Delhi, Jaipur Pink Panthers, Gujarat Fortune Giants, UP Yoddha, Puneri Paltan, Patna Pirates, Bengal Warriors, Tamil Thalaivas, U Mumba, Bengaluru Bulls and Telugu Titans.
As per the available data of the opening 2 weeks, Star Sports Pro Kabaddi viewership on TV increased by nearly 56% from the 2014 year’s viewership. During the inaugural season tournament viewership was 43.5 crore(435 million) viewers, which was the second in India after the 56 crore(560 million) of IPL viewership. The online viewership also increased 1.3 crore unique visitors, which is 18.5 times than of last year’s 7 lakh unique visitors. The third season which was flagged off on 30 January, recorded a surge in viewership with the opening week ratings 36 per cent higher than the week one viewership for its last season.
PKL consolidates the second spot in the list of most viewed sports leagues in India after IPL. The league strives to popularize the game with a vision of making it an Olympic sports in coming future.
