After the establishment of the Indian Premier League, the richest cricket league not only in the country but around the world, several leagues in various sports followed.
While some managed to stay away, others faded away. The list is long, Hockey Premier League, International Premier Tennis League being the two major disappointments.
However, some elite sports like Kabaddi and Table Tennis have been able to please their sponsors in back to back seasons. Kabaddi, in fact, used to be considered a niche sport, but the numbers suggest that it has become the next big thing in league sports in India after the IPL. Next year, there will be a new league in India – the Premier Handball League.
In this interview with Manu Agarwal, CEO and Co-Founder of PHL, we try to understand how a game like handball can make a place in the hearts of the Indian masses, plans to launch it in India and what will be the challenges of this one. is success.
Part:
1. How much is the total investment in the league and what is your return plan?
We have allocated an initial investment of Rs 240 crore spread across the Premier Handball League and various development programs for the game of handball in India.
We operate on a professional sports league model, so the revenue streams are the same as in any other sports league, such as branding rights and media rights. Having said that, our target is creating value for the game of handball in India, monetary returns will follow.
2. This is not a very popular game. Why do you think it would work as a league in India knowing that many leagues of the more popular sports have struggled or closed up shop?
Contrary to popular opinion, handball is widely played across India. We have around 80,000 registered players with Handball Federation of India across age and gender categories and more than 110000 persons play this game in schools and universities.
It is an Olympic sport and the second most popular sport in Europe. The game hasn’t garnered media attention yet, but that’s because it wasn’t commercialized. With the launch of the Premier Handball League, the game is set to gain wide attention and only then will its popularity emerge.
There are many reasons for the success or failure of a sports league. We’ve done a lot of research on those factors and carefully structured our league model to eliminate those factors.
3. How will the league work? Is this going to be auction based?
Premier Handball League Season 1 will feature six franchise-based teams, each representing a state. The first three seasons of the league are going to be single venue seasons, the players will be selected through a draft process in the first season.
There will be three categories of players, two categories for Indian players and one category for foreign players.
In subsequent seasons, the franchise will have the right to retain the players they have selected in the previous season. Released players will go back to the Players Pool, where they will be eligible to be selected by teams via a draft. This process will be followed for the first three sessions. After the fourth season, we will move to the Caravan style league with the player auctions.
4. What are your apprehensions about its success? if someone?
There has never been any apprehension about the success of the league, as we realized how widely the game is played at the national level.
It is only after India’s best performance in the Olympics has increased our confidence about our success, which has only increased public interest in Olympic Games in general. Handball is the fastest Olympic sport with an average of 50-60 goals in a match.
Its action-packed sports entertainment for an hour, crisp and compact. It is very easy to follow and hence we believe that it will be liked by people of all age and gender categories, especially the youth.
5. What has been the biggest challenge for India to get the handball league?
There were basic operational challenges such as collecting data from all players across India and creating a customized database of all players, officials and stakeholders in the game of handball in India, but the Handball Federation of India has been very supportive of us and we are involved in the operations of the Premier Handball League. , has devised systems for everything related to administration and execution to make it at par with the best handball league in the world in season one.
Then of course, there are challenges related to the privatization of an Olympic sport in a country obsessed only with one sport. It is a constant exercise to innovate the stakeholders of the Indian sports business, but thankfully, the journey has been smoother than expected, as the product (Premier Handball League) is very engaging in itself, and it is a journey that Will continue some more time in future. While one might call it a challenge, it has also been the biggest inspiration.
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