Sony television arm, partner to invest up to $10 million in upcoming pickleball league over the next 5 years

Gaurav Natekar, erstwhile tennis ace and proprietor of NSG, said the concern volition not lone assistance motorboat the league successful India, but besides substance maturation of pickleball crossed Asia. 

The collaboration seeks to nurture the sport's improvement from its grassroots to nonrecreational levels, helium said successful an interrogation with Mint.

Pickleball, which dates backmost to the US of 1960s, is simply a racquet sport, comprising elements of tennis, badminton, and array tennis, and takes up lone a 4th of the abstraction of a tennis court. It has gained traction precocious successful the satellite sporting arena.

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In February, SETVI and NSG inked a 10-year licensing statement with the All India Pickleball Association (AIPA), which is affiliated with the International Pickleball Federation (IPF). Natekar volition person a bulk involvement successful the league, with SETVI coming successful arsenic the "first investor".

Sony-owned SETVI is an amusement company, specializing successful media ventures, too offering method enactment and strategical investments to beforehand sporting events.

“We are committed to supporting innovative sports ventures. Our concern marks a measurement toward creating caller opportunities successful the industry. We volition substance the maturation of this athletics and widen its scope among audiences," said Nachiket Pantvaidya, main executive, SETVI.

SETVI is not the archetypal sports transmission to acceptable up a sporting league arsenic a partner. In 2014, Star India had acquired a 74% involvement successful Mashal Sports, which established the Pro Kabaddi League. Star had besides partnered with IMG Reliance to motorboat the Indian Super League shot event.

Pickleball could perchance scope 30 cardinal middle- and upper-middle-class Indian households, Natekar said. "There are rather a batch of tennis, badminton and array tennis players already playing this athletics astir the world. It is beauteous casual to learn. It is age- and gender-agnostic, and is simply a "new-age" sport, Thus, it should marque it much applicable to those watching it," 

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"Sports similar these don't necessitate ample investments to deed the crushed moving connected television." The league volition beryllium streamed unrecorded connected tv to make the athletics further, Natekar added. 

League to impact 6 teams and follow city-based exemplary seen successful akin sporting events

The league volition impact six teams, each comprising 5 to 8 players, and follow the city-based exemplary seen successful akin sporting events. While SETVI and NSG are exploring a format with some planetary and home players, finer details, specified arsenic age, gender, and different operational aspects, are yet to beryllium finalized.

"The crippled is evolving precise fast, truthful we request to look astatine everyone's involvement erstwhile we marque the league." Franchisees are expected to crook profitable by twelvemonth 3 oregon four, helium said.

AIPA, a nonprofit, functioning arsenic the governing assemblage of Pickleball successful India, organizes nationalist and section pickleball events. According to APIA, determination are astir 8,000 registered players, and astir 35,000 amateurs successful India, which is projected to scope 1 cardinal wrong 5 years.

Pickleball is endorsed by the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Selena Gomez, Emma Watson, Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, John McEnroe, Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick, and Serena Williams.

However, barring cricket and kabaddi, astir leagues person struggled to seizure a important viewership successful India. According to a caller GroupM report, titled Sporting Nation: Building a Legacy, though sports sponsorship, endorsement, and advertizing expenses person witnessed a important summation successful India, it is skewed towards cricket.

While expenditure connected sporting events person surged from ₹2,423 crore ($564 million) successful 2008 to ₹15,766 crore ($1.9 billion) successful 2023, astatine a compound yearly maturation complaint of 13%, the Indian Premier League (IPL) unsocial accounted for ₹13,701 crore, oregon 87% of past year's spending.

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Published: 09 May 2024, 09:00 AM IST