PKL league commissioner Anupam Goswami shares his thoughts on the league’s growth, their dreams of seeing kabaddi as an Olympic sport, and what it means to make PKL the best league in India outside of cricket.
Q. What has been the journey of PKL over the past 11 years?
Sports leagues are still in their nascence in India—the biggest league in the country is only 18 seasons old, even though it is already at the forefront of global sports leagues. PKL is one of the two sports leagues outside cricket that have started their second decade. It is a significant milestone in Indian sport with several facets. We have set a good model for grassroots sports to emerge as modern sports with organized fandom, spectatorship, and large-scale consumption on modern media.
Q. PKL has a mass connection with rural and regional audiences. However, how did you make a concerted effort to build heroes with PKL?
Sporting heroes are made when the story of athletic ability is communicated to large audiences through engaging content. The capability, commitment, and imagination of the media partner are always very important for this, and the role of Star Sports has been transformative for PKL. As we go into our second decade, the storytelling for PKL on emerging media and among emerging consumer groups will be important. At the same time, PKL teams are reaching the stage where they can start evolving into great sporting clubs with great communities and drive the next round of growth for our sport. That is the opportunity for kabaddi through PKL. Of course, all of this will create successive generations of kabaddi heroes as well.
Q. We have seen leagues come and go, including the likes of badminton, table tennis, and hockey in their initial form. Sitting on the fence as a fan, what do you think didn’t work here?
The league model for various sports is contributing to the emergence of a multi-sport ecosystem and consumer habits in India. We have drawn our learnings from several peers in Indian sports leagues. PKL has strong achievements, but there is still so much more to be done. We know PKL has set some best practices for emerging sports in India, and all of them emanate from a focused fan-first approach. This approach has to be universal in application across all key decisions for the league.
Among leagues for contact sports, we were exemplary in overcoming the disruption of the pandemic. Like our peers, we missed the 2020 season, but we came back aggressively and determined to conduct Season 8 in 2021, which was then still very difficult for a contact sport to pull off. We efficiently conducted the full season on schedule without reducing a single match.
Q. Covid changed the ecosystem a lot, and since leagues are dependent on corporate involvement, did you notice any change in their approach and investment across sports leagues? Given ROI has become more critical now?
It is a simple truism that any investment-led activity must have a line of sight to financial sustainability at some stage. Sports must also make financial sense to its investors.
At the same time, the value proposition of successful sport is unique and proving itself all the more in our post-pandemic times. More than ever before, sport is showing its potential to unite and inspire people across the world. Contemporary sporting heroes are becoming global heroes. Social following for elite athletes compares strongly to achievements in other walks of life. This is the basis for the surge in national and international efforts in sports all around our world.
Q. Has league culture also intensified the debate of club vs country-led sport? Because of the monetary involvement in leagues, young talent is more keen to play in leagues and clubs rather than aspire to play for the country.
Even today, Team India commands a very coveted stature and space for any sport in our country. In kabaddi, as well, each player dreams and aspires to play for the country and the league. The big achievement for kabaddi is that it is a medal discipline at the Asian Games, and this is a key strength for the sport to aspire to an even higher pedestal, such as the Olympics. All kabaddi athletes dream of this evolution and being a part of it.
At the same time, the PKL teams have been significant contributors to the development, makeover, and emerging future of kabaddi as a modern sport, with all the inputs that go into this transformation. This includes the application of sports science and technology, new formats of training, and providing exposure to overseas players. All this adds to the growth of kabaddi. And it’s a matter of pride that the entire national team has emerged from PKL. Prior to PKL, there were many instances of kabaddi players or coaches achieving success, but no one was noticing this. Our performance in kabaddi at the Asian Games received front-page coverage in the news media during the 2014 Asian Games, which were held immediately after Season 1 of PKL.
One reality is that, outside of cricket, kabaddi players are the best-paid Indian athletes by far in India. Talk to any kabaddi player, and they will tell you that PKL has catalyzed a sea change in the way kabaddi and its athletes are looked up to in their communities and ecosystem. The self-esteem of kabaddi athletes has increased by leaps and bounds as a direct impact of PKL. The players’ self-esteem has undoubtedly been boosted by the commercial success they have witnessed with the league. Of course, it is also a reality that PKL athletes are among the highest-paid athletes in any sports league outside cricket.
Q. What are your views on when we can expect a women’s league in Kabaddi?
Obviously, the holistic development of kabaddi requires the development of women’s kabaddi as well, especially for any Olympics vision for this sport. We demonstrated our intent and commitment by conducting the Women’s Kabaddi Challenge in 2016 as a demonstration event. We reiterated our intent in 2023 to conduct a women’s league. At the same time, we have absolute clarity that, as and when we launch the women’s league for kabaddi, it must have the same massive impact as we achieved for men’s kabaddi with PKL in 2014. One key continuing challenge is the quality and quantity of women’s kabaddi talent available. This is a reality for other sports too.
