A large section of these players come from rural part of India, and therefore, such a hefty amount means a lot to them and their family. Anand Mahindra had to overcome several mental roadblocks for himself, in order to create the Pro Kabaddi League. Firstly, he thought that whether there would be any leg room outside of the IPL to create a successful sports league. There are some other records that suggest that was even played in Iran 2000 years ago. Despite such ambiguous sources, the ancient sport of Kabaddi has survived in the present, and now, in the modern day, it is thriving. The game originated in Tamil Nadu, where it was called “kai-pidi”, which means “grip hands”. The game is called Chedugudu in Andhra Pradesh, in Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka and Kerala, in West Bengal, and Kabaddi in Punjab. The Midline Academy in Karjat, Maharashtra, is one of the hundreds of Academies where players train during their off-season. As far as the digital growth is concerned, the inaugural season’s social media saw. 3 billion impressions, according to The Hindu. Twitter, at the time, saw an approximate 25,000 tweets flowing in for the semi-final and the final.

Pro Kabaddi League 2025 – Live PKL Results

The raider is not obliged to repeat Pro Kabaddi throughout the raid. MBA students can learn, most of all, from the rise of Kabaddi that if marketed, packaged, and presented properly to an audience or market that is hungry for more, then any product can sell. The business model of earning and the marketing model of making it popular is what will stand out for MBA students about the PKL. The Pro Kabaddi League has experienced a major growth in media and digitalization since its inception in 2014. What was 222 million viewers in Season 9 of PKL, increased up to 351 million viewers in S10, i.e 2025 edition of PKL. They have been instrumental in popularizing the sport beyond traditional viewing public. Star Sports also televises every match of the https://www.kabaddiworldcuplive.com/ League in 5 different languages across the country, ensuring it reaches maximum people in the country. While the league was formed, bankrolled, and ready to e launched, another aspect still remained to settle – The audience attraction and popularity. The marketing team of the PKL realized that if they leave the sport up to its regular format, that could be slightly off-putting for the TV audiences.

Kabaddi Match 2025 Live: Vivo PKL Updates

More significantly, it transported kabaddi from the akhada to the mat. With names like Tamil Thalaivas, Patna Pirates, and Bengaluru Bulls, PKL teams rough it out for glory and laurels in a packed arena. Kabaddi isn’t yet international popular as many other sports such as Football and Cricket are. However, it is rapidly growing in popularity in countries such as England, Australia, South Korea, Iran, etc.

Live Pro Kabaddi Action: Vivo PKL 2025

Even Siddhartha Gautama (Gautam Buddha) played the sport, as per Ronojoy Sen’s book ‘Nation At Play’.

Owing to this rise in popularity and increased salary, more and more players from rural India will join the sport. There would be foundations laid at the grassroots level for the sport of Kabaddi to thrive and grow. The business model of PKL also involves the utilization of the Caravan format. According to this format, matches are played in clumps or bunches within a city, which helps reduce travel and logistical costs for the teams, and therefore, the league.

• If successful, the raider scores points for their team, while the defenders earn points by stopping the raider.
• The game is played between two teams, each consisting of seven players.
• Around that time, the first framework of rules for the sport was prepared in Maharashtra, with various English sports serving as a model.
• From that year on, the sport of Kabaddi was never the same again.
• No special gear or expensive equipment is required to play.

The latter amount puts these Kabaddi players in the category of the rich in India. Season 9 of PKL had 222 million viewers, which is 17% higher than what the number was for S8 of PKL. The rate of increase has been 13-17% per year since the inaugural year of the PKL. The salaries of players have gone up significantly as well. The highest bid for a player in 2014 was around $11,600. With such high engagement rates, PKL is certainly on its way to being something bigger than ever. Kabaddi is one of India’s oldest sports, still practiced today. Harkening back to our school days, ‘Games’ periods and lunch breaks were often spent playing a variety of ‘Desi’ (Indian) sports, such as Kho-Kho and Gilli-Danda. Despite this sport’s steady popularity among the Indian masses for thousands of years, there was never any structure or competition provided to it. In Gaminee style, the player who out needs to stay out until all his team players are out.

The university offers opportunities to the team to showcase talent by participating in various inter tournaments and in different competitions as well. India has several forms of kabaddi, each with distinct rules. Sanjeevani features a 40-minute game with players revived when an opponent is put out. Gaminee has no time limit, with players remaining out until all teammates are out. Amar is similar to Sanjeevani but allows players to stay on the court after being touched out. Despite their differences, all forms share the goal of capturing opponents. Kabaddi is growing so fast in India due to a myriad of reasons. It has also secured a market very smartly in tandem with the IPL. Moreover, sponsorships pouring in will also encourage many youngsters to pick up this sport, as opposed to only picking up cricket. Besides making kabaddi players into rich superstars, it otherwise ensures Government jobs for a lot of the others.

Pro Kabaddi 2025 – PKL Live Match Updates

Kabaddi’s international popularity is also growing, with strong teams emerging in Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Korea, and Australia. Soon enough, PKL became a huge hit and kabaddi started to rise in popularity in India. The fact that India is still one of the leading teams in kabaddi in the world helped increase its popularity. When a player from the opponent team is out, one tackled or tagged player from this team can come back inside the court to continue the game.