Thomas Cup to Deaflympics: The push to sport from non-cricket leagues

“When we began our journey in the ecosystem, we took a gamble,” says Prasad Mangipudi, managing director, Sportzlive. “We thought there was a market for Olympics sports leagues in the country, a league that would offer audiences something different, and we went for it.”

We are basking in the afterglow of a week of Indian sporting prowess: A Thomas Cup victory, a World Championship gold medal, multiple medals in the Deaflympics and in archery. In the post-cricket sportsverse, this is bliss. Put on the TV at twilight though, and you'll be treated to reality. Indian sport is reactionary, and very little of this success is actually on your TV. A landscape dominated by European football, Formula One and NBA does not leave much for those outside of the Indian Premier League (IPL) bubble. 

That is one way to think about it. Another way is to reverse the equation and consider the fact that there is an unexplored, untapped world of glorious non-cricket league sport out there. A fact that is slowly and gradually permeating the Indian sports ecosystem.

Mangipudi of Sportzlive, the company that holds the rights for the Premier Badminton League (PBL), says the recent success of Thomas Cup heroes Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in the doubles circuit is also because of the experience they gained playing internationals in the league.

Shetty and Rankireddy’s coach Mathias Boe, counted among the greatest doubles players, was part of the inaugural league and has been associated with Indian badminton since. While hardcore badminton fans may bristle at the suggestion, a case can be made for the PBL popularising team format badminton in India more than the Thomas Cup ever did. 

The league held its first season in January 2016 (the older variant, the Indian Badminton League began in 2013) and has slowly established itself as the biggest franchise-based event in the sport across the world. It’s mixed team format, prize money (Rs 6 crore in 2020) and guaranteed appearance fees (players are bought at an auction; In 2019, PV Sindhu and World No 2 Tai Tzu Ying were bought for Rs 77 lakh) are unique for world badminton and, therefore, make it one of the few franchise-based events in India to feature the best in the world.

While the pandemic put some of these leagues on pause, that hasn’t deterred several regular players like the Indian Super League (ISL), Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), I-League from working through a bubble. It hasn't deterred new ventures either. 

Tradition meets the mainstream

“If there is one thing we know clearly, it is that India loves team sport much more than individual sport,” says Tenzing Niyogi, CEO, Ultimate Kho Kho (UKK). Promoted by Dabur India Chairman Amit Burman, the league signed on the entertainment company RISE Worldwide as its partner in broadcast production earlier this year. While the launch dates are fluid, Niyogi is looking to see it take off in the next couple of months. 

Niyogi himself has experience in off-beat sports leagues, having previously been attached to World Kabaddi League (WKL), which focused on circle style kabaddi, a different format to the more popular variant.

This preference for team sport, combined with a deep connection to traditional games is what Niyogi hopes will count in Kho-kho’s favour. “I don’t think every sport can have a successful league,” he says. “It has to be simple to follow, and in addition you have to revise the format to make it TV-friendly. Anything that’s high speed and nail biting works brilliantly for Indian audiences. Look at all the successful leagues and you’ll see this formula.” 

While PKL surprised many industry experts with its immediate popularity, Niyogi maintains that the easy-to-understand format combined with its traditional roots ran in its favour. With UKK, they have rejigged the rules, and are exploring broadcasting techniques — a camera that focuses on high-energy pole dives being one — to create something new. “People will be consuming it for the first time,” Niyogi says, “so it’s important to give them a spectacle.” 

Investment pendulum

“When we started,” Prasad Mangi­pudi, managing director, Sportzlive, says, “there was a huge craze for a lot of sports leagues in the country. Almost every other sport was starting up a league, and making itself known through broadcasting. But we figured three or four will settle down.”

He was right. Over the years, this boom has gone bust. Those to fall include the Hockey India League, International Premier Tennis Leag­ue, Champions Tennis League, Golf Premier League and the announced but never initiated Indian Racing League. The reasons for closure range from choc-a-bloc sports calendars and lack of public interest to a disorganised national federation. 

Now though, the impact of the pan­demic has pushed franchise in­v­e­stors into reconsidering options. Man­gi­pudi admits that his league may have broken even in 2021, after years of struggling by, but that prog­ress has been pushed to a later date. Rumours of Star not renewing their broadcast deal (which ended in 2020) have also caused concern about its survival.

“The original broadcasting deal we struck was before Sindhu’s Rio Olympics silver,” Mangipudi says. “And since then there has been an up­tick in the sport in many more ways. This time, we are hoping to sell the rights at almost two times the value (an Economic Times report estimates that the league’s revenue from central sponsorships and broadcast rights amounted to Rs 3-5-4.5 crore).” 

This really is where the crux of the matter lies though. Unlike Europe, Indian sports leagues cannot break even or even survive on gate revenue. Big money TV deals are the way forward. There is a catch, though.

Reports suggest the Board of Cont­rol for Cricket in India expects a bid of between Rs 35,000 and Rs 40,000 crore for the IPL media rights (a 150 per cent increase on the last deal won by Star India) for five years. (Some suggest it could even touch Rs 50,000-Rs 60,000 crore on auction day.) An in­d­ustry insider says this means broad­casters would have to generate at least Rs 50,000 crore over that period to break even — or Rs 10,000 crore investment from brands every year. What it does to other sports remains to be seen.

A 2021 report from GroupM’s ent­e­rtainment and sports division is enc­o­uraging. According to it, emerging sports received 15 per cent of all end­orsements in 2019 — a figure that dip­ped to 8 per cent in 2020. While cric­ket still holds the bulk of sponsorship, the number for others has risen to 13 per cent of the market share again. 

And while most of these endorsements centre around athletes themselves (incidentally, athlete endorsement did not dip throughout 2020), some percolate through to leagues, franchises and the like.

Mangipudi and Niyogi both maintain that ultimately though, commerce isn’t everything.

“The real thing is to help the sport get stronger at the base of the pyramid,” Niyogi says. “Some sports have strong bases, and they just need a push. We hope a league, some attention and money can do that.”