SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT MARKETING

PROJECT
ON
Pro Wrestling League.

UNDER THE ESTEEMED GUIDANCE OF

Prof. Kishore

BY
A. AKSHAY PAWAR

SEM-3
PGDM-II Program
GBS – Hyderabad.

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PRO WRESTLING LEAGUE:
Pro Wrestling League (PWL) is the biggest Olympic wrestling league in the country. It was
founded by Karthikeya Sharma and ProSportify, who owns PWL. An initiative of ProSportify and
Wrestling Federation of India, PWL is the richest wrestling event ever. Instituted in the year 2015,
PWL have successfully completed three editions. PWL has become the biggest Olympic Sporting
League in the Country with a squad of 6 teams, each consisting of 9 players (i.e., 54 players)
,Olympic medalists and World Champions.

HERITAGE & LEGACY:

WRESTLING, the sport, is almost as old as the human civilization. As a competitive sport, it had
been contested at the ancient Olympic Games in 708 BC. When the modern Olympics resumed in
Athens in 1896, wrestling became a focus of the Games. Since 1900, it became an integral part of
Olympic Games.
India has a rich tradition in wrestling too. Since time immemorial it was a popular sport among
people in the villages. Unlike the modern sport, the ‘Dangals’ then were organized in sand
‘akharas’. Thousands of people would gather around the ‘akhara’ and egg on the mat men. After
the bout the winner would go around the crowd and people would offer him cash as reward for his
victory.
The Sport in India has a mythological connect too. Greek Gods too are depicted as keen wrestlers.
Name of Gama Pehlwan is inscribed in the folklore of Indian wrestling. But when K D Jadhav
secured a bronze in Helsinki Games – India’s first individual Olympic medal – the sport got a
boost.
Following Jadhav’s footsteps several Indian wrestlers were knocking on the doorstep of Olympic
glory. But despite their best effort by the likes of Ved Prakash, Sudesh and Premanth among others,
an Olympic medal eluded them.
Then came Sushil Kumar at 2008 Beijing Games - his bronze there turned around the scene of
wrestling in India. Wrestling emerged as a popular sport and Sushil its best Brand Ambassador.
His silver in the next Games in London and also a bronze for YogeshwarDutt acted as perfect icing
on the cake.
Young Amit, Bajrang and many others now inspired by these heroes are determined to keep up
the tradition at the next Olympic Games in Rio. In the wake of Sushi and Yogeshwar’s brilliance,
young women wrestlers are also performing exceedingly well. Geeta, Babita, Vinesh are on the
right course even as AlkaTomar and GeetikaJakhar have already performed well.Sakshi Malik has
undoubtedly returned with glorious results adding an Olympic medal to India’s medal standing.

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MANAGEMENT TEAM:
KARTIKEYA SHARMA

Founder and Promoter, Pro Wrestling League

Pro Wrestling League is an initiative of ProSportify owned by Mr. Kartikeya Sharma, Founder &
Promoter of ProSportify Pvt. Ltd. Pro Wrestling League is the earnest initiative of ProSportify.
‘ProSportify’ is our earnest effort to bridge the gap in Indian sport, and catalyze talent to sporting
glory. “Our philosophy as a company reflects in our name itself, our approach is to uplift and
transform the sports while keeping the culture and heritage of the sports intact. We will focus on
building sport in a 360-degree approach, which leaves all stakeholders, including the
viewers/spectators and sponsors happy.
Our first venture is the “Pro Wrestling League”, which has successfully completed two editions.
The league has given Indian Wrestlers, the much-needed platform, to perform and give 360 degree
exposure that has encouraged them to go a notch above in their performance.

Mr. Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, MP

President, Wrestling Federation of India.

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 Sunil Yash Kalra

CEO, Pro Wrestling League.

Till today pro wrestling league has been completed three seasons. The following are the list of
players per season wise:

Format:
 There will be six teams, each consisting of a total of 1 Icon and 8 other players. Among
them, there will be 5 Indians and 4 foreign players, consisting of 5 men and 4 women.
 Out of these 5 foreign players, only 4 can be part of a tie.[3] Each tie will be contested
based on 7 bouts (and two blocked categories), except for the final, for which all 9 bouts
will be played.
 A total of 18 ties (15 league ties, 2 semifinals, and final) will be played.
 There will be 5 weight categories (57 kg, 65 kg, 74 kg, 97 kg, 125 kg) for men, and 4
weight categories (49 kg, 53 kg, 58 kg, 69 kg) for women. Each team can block one weight
category before the bout starts.
 The league will be played on the 'best of nine', and each bout will have 2 rounds of 3
minutes each, separated by a 90 seconds break.

PRIZE MONEY:

The league offers a prize purse of Rupees 15 crore including the total prize purse of Rs. 3 crore.

BOUTS & RULES:

PWL guarantees a minimum of 150 bouts. The League strictly conforms to the rules of United
World Wrestling and Wrestling Federation of India.

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SEASON: 1 (TEAMS)
1. Bengaluru Yodhas
2. CDR Punjab Royals
3. Dilli Veer
4. Haryana Hammers
5. Revanta Mumbai Garuda
6. UP Warriors

TEAM PUNJAB:
 Owner:Trilok Chaudhary CDR Group and Brand Ambassador
 Dharmendra Deol
Total amount of money spent in the bid: ₹ 1,85,70,000

TEAM HARYANA:
 Owner: Olive Global, Bupinder Singh, Budhram Phalwan
 Total amount of money spent in the bid: ₹ 1,96,20,000.

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TEAM MUMBAI:

 Owner: Revanta Group(Owner-Ankur Prasad, Pradeep Sehrawat, Satender Maan),

Garudacharya
 Total amount of money spent in the bid: ₹ 1,78,70,000

TEAM BENGALURU YODHAS:

 Owner: JSW Group

 Total amount of money spent in the bid: ₹ 1,71,40,000

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TEAM DILLI VEER:
Owner: GMR Group
Total amount of money spent in the bid: ₹ 1,77,70,000

TEAM UTTAR PRADESH:

 Owner: Lotus Greens, Rohit Sharma

 Total amount of money spent in the bid: ₹ 1,72,30,000

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SEASON: 2

Georgia's Vladimer Khinchegashvili, who won the gold in Rio 2016 Olympics in the men's 57kg
freestyle wrestling category, has been the costliest buy in the auction as he was purchased for a
price of Rs 48 lakh by Team Punjab, co-owned by evergreen Bollywood superstar Dharmendra.

History maker for India, Sakshi Malik, moved to Team Delhi for a price of Rs 30 lakh.

Teams:

1. NCR Punjab Royals

2. Delhi Sultans
3. Haryana Hammers
4. Jaipur Ninjas
5. Mumbai Maharathi
6. UP Dangal

TEAM PUNJAB:

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TEAM HARYANA:

TEAM MUMBAI:

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TEAM DELHI:

TEAM JAIPUR:

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TEAM UTTAR PRADESH:

SEASON: 3

Teams:

1. NCR Punjab Royals

2. Delhi Sultans
3. Haryana Hammers
4. Mumbai Maharathi
5. UP Dangal
6. Veer Marathas

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DELHI SULTANS:

HARYANA HAMMERS:

MUMBAI MARATHI:

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PUNJAB ROYALS:

UP DANGAL:

VEER MARATHAS:

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Top Indian and International Players Sold:

SEASON 1: Viewership

 PWL got an average viewership of 0.64 (ratings in percentage) for the first season with an
average daily reach of 31 million.
 Punjab, Haryana ,Chandigarh , Himachal Pradesh & J& K given viewership jump of 90 %
to MAX
 Viewership grown by 1100 % for SIX in same markets
 Viewership in Delhi grown by 166 % for MAX
 The same grown by 744 % for SIX
 350 % Viewership growth for Sony Six.
 Pro Wrestling League delivered 102 % higher viewership in comparison to Indian Super
league.

SEASON 2: Viewership

 It was opened with a massive viewership of 5.41 crore in its opening week has only grown
bigger and better.

 The opening day witnessed 6.58 million TV viewers in India – highest in the season.

 Season 2 garnered 10.9 crore cumulative coverage in 18 days with a 1.4 crore average daily
reach (Source: BARC) that doubled up the success rate of the first season crossing 3.2 core
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 average daily reach.

 It witnessed a jump of 22% in time spent and an increase of 10% in the week 2 of its ratings.

 The time spent per game by the average viewer stood at 17min 26 seconds in the first week,
which went up to 19 min and 50 seconds in the second week (TG 15+ MA, BARC).

 This is one of the only non-cricketing leagues that has seen such high viewership in
comparison to other star studded leagues like PKL, PBL etc. The league is being broadcast
live across Sony Max and Sony ESPN (HD & SD) from 7 to 9pm and also being streamed
live on Sony Liv.

 Uniquely, PWL connected extensively to the women audience, as 48% of the viewership
consisted of the fairer sex.

 PWL however saw only 0.3% difference implying that rural audiences had the same
affinity towards the sport as urban audiences.

Haryana which is home to the two wrestlers Geeta Phogat, Sakshi Malik and also Baba Ramdev, expressed
great interest in the wrestling tournament. PWL witnessed the largest rural audience from Haryana –
20.1%. The state also claimed the highest urban share of 18%.

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With increasing affinity towards non-cricket leagues in India, sport fans thrive within the vast
television viewing population. Given that rural India is growing rapidly with technology and media
consumption, these sports represent a massive opportunity to create an impact in the mind space
of non-urban consumers. In order to develop brand loyalty early on, broadcasters and advertisers
must better tap into this rapidly growing opportunity and engage with them effectively.

SEASON 3: Viewership

 The third edition of the Pro Wrestling League 3 (PWL 3) proved to be an unprecedented
hit as it became the most popular league in the country after cricket.

 The PWL 3 reached over 85 crore viewers across India in over 36 hrs.

 According to the latest BARC India ratings, PWL 3 has outshone the Pro Kabaddi League-
V by an impressive nine percent in India and by a phenomenal 47 percent in Hindi-speaking
markets.

 The wrestling league has registered a TVR of 0.45 on Sony Wah in the Broadcast Audience
Research Council data for Week 2 (January 6-12, 2018).

 This happens to be the best ratings for any ongoing sports league in India. PWL’s best
number for Sony ESPN is 0.07.

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Promotion of game of season 1: 30- 40 crores

Broadcasting of season 1:

 Sony max
 Sony pal
 Sony Six

Broadcasting of Season 2:
PWL 2017 Live Telecast TV on
 Sony Max,
 Sony Six,
 Sony Pal and
 Sony Six HD.

Broadcasting of season 3:

 Pro Wrestling League Season 3 has scored a grand opening on Sony Picture Network’s
free to air channel exclusively on Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD and Sony Wah.

 The matches can be watched live on SonyLiv

 The ratings for sony’s air channel is 0.53

 According to BARC India data for Week .PWL’s best number for Sony ESPN is 0.05.

 The overall rating for PWL 3 is 0.85%

There is also comparison made with Pro kabaddi league with respective to impressions:

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Sponsorship:

2015

Dabur chawanprash – Main sponsor (22 cores)

Thums up- Powered by sponsor

2017 and 2018

Patanjali Powervita- 40 cores

 Patanjali as the title sponsor for at least two years and we have also signed Amul as co-
sponsor and Essco, Piccadilly Agro and Sun flame as associate sponsors.

 The sponsorship for season 2 is already being planned and is estimated to show an 81%
increase to Rs 40 crore.

 The net marketing spend for the league is upwards of Rs. 20 crore.

 They are selling the ad rates at Rs 45,000 per 10 seconds, a definite jump from Rs 35,000
per slot in the last season.

 They also declined to divulge the size of the broadcast deal, said the league is scouting for
two kinds of sponsors.

 The event sponsorship and on ground sponsorship (money) will come into the league and
the on-air sponsorship will flow into MSM. They are in the process of signing a title
sponsor and in year one our combined on air and on-ground sponsorship should be in the
tune of Rs 22 crore.

 Over the next five years, the combined sponsorship should cross Rs 150 crore.

Star Indian Players of all 3 seasons:

 Sushil Kumar [Delhi Sultans]

 Yogeshwar Dutt [Haryana Hammers]

 Amit Kumar [Haryana Hammers]

 Bajrang [Bengaluru Yodhas]

 Geeta Phogat [Punjab Royals]

 Babita Kumari [Uttar Pradesh Warriors]

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  Geetika Jakhar [Haryana Hammers]

 Vinesh Phogat [Mangalayatan University Dilli Veer]

 Narsingh Pancham Yadav [Bengaluru Yodhas]

Social Engagement:

 Facebook: 71954(followers)
 Twitter: 5783(Tweets)
 Searches: 8685

Winners:
The season 1 finale was played on 27thn December 2015 between Mumbai Garuda and Haryana
Hammers, in which Mumbai Garuda won the match.

The season 2 finale was played on 19th January 2017. This time again Haryana Hammers was in
the finale against Punjab Royals, in which Punjab Royals won the match.

The season 2 finale was played on 26th January 2018. This time again Haryana Hammers was in
the finale against Punjab Royals, in which Punjab Royals won the match.

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