For the first time ever since the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) began in 2014, the league’s organising company — Mashal Sports has announced to open the tender process for the media rights of the tournament.
The rights will be awarded for five years, from Seasons 8 to 12, or until 2025, whichever is earlier.
The development is taking place as the league’s 12 team owners and current broadcast rights holder Star India had failed to agree on a right price and revenue sharing formula.
The online auction process will be held on 6 April and the PKL media invitation to tender will be issued on 25 February. Parties willing for the rights it can bid for four packages—television, digital, gaming and consolidated (combination of all three), Mashal Sports has said.
Speaking on the move, league commissioner and chief executive of Mashal Sports Anupam Goswami said: “We are also encouraging bidder consortiums to go for the package deal, under which they will be allowed to sub licence gaming rights. We will offer flexibility to bidders to work with PKL in accordance with their appetite.”
“We are going to the market in consensus with PKL franchises and we will ensure real-time transparency among all bidders. Star India has been a responsible majority owner of the league and that continues. The network has built PKL into a modern spectacle on TV and other screens and we wish to maintain a similar relationship with our incoming media partners,” he added.
Earlier, the league’s decision to auction the media rights for the next cycle was indefinitely postponed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Significantly, the clubs were receiving around Rs 6.5 crore per season from broadcast rights, but the franchisees then demanded a larger share.
After PKL was launched in 2014, Star Sports was roped in as the official broadcaster.
Following the resounding success of the debut season, the sports broadcasting company acquired a 74 percent stake in Mashal Sports, a company founded by Anand Mahindra and Charu Sharma, thereby achieving control of the league.