By BD Narayankar
Bengaluru, Feb 4 (UNI) Prime Volleyball League (PVL) Co-Founder Tuhin Mishra on Friday said already few league teams have broken even in the first season itself, unlike IPL teams that did almost after a decade.
"There are few teams who have already done it. They broke even in Season 1 itself, and I am sure that it is in public domain even for something like an IPL. The (IPL) owners lost money for 7 to 8 years. Some people are saying they lost money for almost 10 years," he said, replying to a query by UNI here.
Mishra said it happened due to keeping costs under control and having a nice bunch of sponsors who came on board. "We see this kind of, from the revenue side, growing even bigger and bigger," he said.
The fact that the league managed to break even, it speaks volumes for all team owners who managed their finances well, Mishra said.
He said the league is planning to expand it in the northern parts of India and there are discussions to bring in a team from North India sooner rather than later. He also expressed gratitude to principal sponsors RuPay for their constant support in the journey.
"I have worked in this industry for 23 years. A lot of times brands come forward to partner with you but the relationship is often transactional. With pride I can tell you when we approached RuPay, they were so willing to come forward - they wanted to do a lot more than just putting up a logo. What they are doing for Volleyball is unprecedented in India," he said.
Representing RuPay, Lalita Nayak released a trailer of a 6-episode docuseries titled RuPay Volley Good Culture featuring volleyball stars. In each episode, the player takes people through their own journey to the biggest stage of volleyball in India. It also highlights the larger impact RuPay is creating through the Prime Volleyball League.
She said "We believe volleyball has a far and wide universal appeal and a good future in India. Like Volleyball, RuPay is about youthful quickness, vertical leaps in innovation, and a modern can-do attitude. It is only natural that we are partners for the game."
"Connecting to the last mile and the urban with the rural, like NPCI is focused on increasing penetration of digital payments, similarly for Volleyball, this year we supported initiatives to expand the sport across the North-East region specifically Assam with the Brahmaputra League and the RuPay Volley culture series will hopefully bring more attention to the game at both grassroots and higher levels," Lalita Nayak said.
PVL Season 2 will see its first match on February 4 with the defending champions Kolkata Thunderbolts facing off against hosts Bengaluru Torpedoes in what promises to be a cracking contest.
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