New Delhi: The inaugural season of Pro Punja League (PPL), a professional arm-wrestling league, is set to kickstart on 28 July 2023, at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall, Indira Gandhi Arena here in New Delhi. The 17-day event will broadcast will be telecast live on Sony Sports Network’s linear channels and streamed on FanCode.
The league will have six teams – Kiraak Hyderabad, Mumbai Muscle, Rohtak Rowdies, Ludhiana Lions, Baroda Badshahs, and Kochi KD’s, for the inaugural edition, with 180 top arm-wrestlers drafted from across the country. The league will have prize money of ₹20 lakh for the winning team of the first season, while the runner-up and the ‘player of the tournament’ will receive a cheque of ₹5 lakh and ₹1 lakh, respectively.
“We have more numbers (of followers) before the start of our first season than some of the leagues have after the end of their first season. So, I think that’s strong evidence of the way we’ve managed to create an interest within the sport before we’ve even started, and we’re not starting from zero,” citing the 270 million viewership they have garnered on social media platforms, Parvin Dabas, co-owner of the league’s parent company, Swen Entertainment Pvt Ltd, told Mint in an interview.
He further added, “In the first year, I don’t think it’s a revenue game. It’s an eyeball game. What we are focusing on is the kind of eyeballs we can generate amongst the viewership. Because I feel like anything on TV, it’s about the TRPs you can get, the kind of viewership you can get and everything else follows from there. And of course, we have a primetime viewership of 7 to 9 pm.”
Sony Sports has played a big part in the promotion of the sport, with a 1-year media rights contract, the company is set to host events throughout the year to boost the game’s popularity. “Sony has supported us in a much, much bigger way than we could have hoped for. Our promos have been played during the Ashes, which was the only cricket during July. They’ve stitched together this partnership with Zee as well for Gadar 2, a co-branded promo. So, they’ve done a lot and much, much more than we expected,” he added.
The league has also partnered with Willow TV in the US for showcasing the matches to the US audiences and with the Indian FM radio network, Red FM 93.5 to drive engagement with behind-the-scenes coverage.
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Updated: 28 Jul 2023, 02:13 AM IST
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