Current season, competition or edition: 2016 Pro Kabaddi League season (June) |
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Logo of Pro Kabaddi League
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Sport | Kabaddi |
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Founded | 2014 |
Inaugural season | 2014 |
Owner(s) | Mashal Sports |
Director | Charu Sharma |
Motto | Jeethta hai wohi jo haar naa maane |
No. of teams | 8 |
Country | India |
Venue(s) | 8 locations |
Most recent champion(s) |
Patna Pirates |
Sponsor(s) | STAR Sports |
Official website | prokabaddi |
The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) (officially known as the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi for sponsorship reasons) is a professional kabaddi league in India, based on the format of the Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament. It is the first significant initiative of Mashal Sports and takes the truly indigenous sport of Kabaddi to new levels of professionalism. Within a short span of three years and four seasons, it has been largely successful in popularizing Kabaddi and bringing it to the masses. It not only benefits the stakeholders involved in the ecosystem of the game, but also the players themselves. A few PKL stars like Ajay Kumar Pardeep Narwal
Jasvir Singh have grown considerable fan following and have become role models for the youth.
The Pro Kabaddi League was founded in 2014 with the inaugural 2014 edition of the tournament being played between eight franchises representing eight India cities respectively. The league has a "caravan format," with the teams travelling together to all the eight venues to play a total of sixty matches. The organizing company Mashal Sports was co-founded by Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group and Mr. Charu Sharma, director of Mashal Sports. Star India acquired a 74% stake in Mashal Sports, and now has control over the entire league as a majority owner of Mashal Sports. Mashal Sports has acquired the rights to organize the league for a period of ten years from International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) with an option to renew it further.
Star Sports was named as the official broadcaster in May 2014 with the online rights going to Starsports.com. In 2015, hotstar.com and starsports.com were the online broadcaster for Prokabaddi.Fox Sports serves as the official United States broadcaster for Prokabaddi. The Commonwealth Broadcasting Network, a service of the Asian Television Network, serves as the official broadcaster for Prokabaddi in Canada. ESPN serves as the official broadcaster for Prokabaddi in Brazil, the Spanish-speaking Latin America and Commonwealth Caribbean countries