A Rs 5 Crore Purse, a Rs 17.4 Lakh Top Price: Where Haryana's New Kabaddi League's 'Champions' Claim Actually Fits

At a ground in Bhiwani, something happened that is genuinely exciting news for any kabaddi fan. The Kabaddi Champions League expanded from eight teams to ten, and teams were given a budget of Rs 5 crore to build their squads. Reading this, one might think Indian kabaddi has found a new power centre. But in my 31 years of experience, whenever a new league arrives with big claims, I first pull out the numbers and grind them into the dust, then tell the story. And this time the numbers clearly show that this league is raising a question: where is the real game of kabaddi being played, and for whom is the league building it.

Hearing the name Kabaddi Champions League and assuming it is a national platform like the Pro Kabaddi League is a big mistake. Look at the list of its ten franchise cities—Bhiwani, Rohtak, Karnal, Gurugram, Sonipat, Panipat, Faridabad, Hisar, Jhajjar and Kurukshetra. They are all in Haryana. The name is 'Champions League', but its footprint is entirely Haryana-centric. That is the real story.

The League's Footprint and Its Purse

Haryana is called India's sports nursery. The tradition of wrestlers and kabaddi players emerging from mud akhadas is centuries old here. Over 6,400 registrations came in, from which 300 players were selected into the auction pool. This figure shows how deep the hunger for kabaddi is in the villages. The problem is that the rope converting this hunger into rupees is very short.

A budget of Rs 5 crore per team. The amount sounds big, but I have to normalise this number. In PKL, the auction price of a single star raider alone goes above Rs 1 crore. A PKL franchise's total auction spend is several times higher. That means the entire Rs 5 crore purse is a fraction of what PKL spends on one or two players. The highest auction price in this league was Rs 17.4 lakh, paid to Ayan Lochab. The other big name, Sunil Malik, presented as 'India's Asian Games captain', sold for Rs 10 lakh.

The Broken Pattern

This is where an internal contradiction emerges. If Sunil Malik really is India's Asian Games captain, then his sale at Rs 10 lakh signals either that the designation is stale, or that this league does not price international pedigree. Over the years I have seen many cases where rural leagues use old credentials of players to add shine. This reflects the superficiality of the reporting.

The league's biggest strength is its grassroots connection. Over 7,000 trialists prove there is no shortage of talent in Haryana's soil. But where will this talent go? If the league's average salary is around Rs 25-33 lakh per player (assuming a squad of fifteen to twenty), that is far below PKL. This means most players will remain part-time, playing kabaddi alongside government jobs or farming. This is not the full form of professional sport.

PKL's Crisis and This League

There is a news item hidden here that no one noticed. In the fourth paragraph of the story about the Kabaddi Champions League's expansion, it is mentioned that the thirteenth season of the Pro Kabaddi League has likely been pushed to June-July 2027 because it has no broadcast partner. This is seismic information.

PKL has been the backbone of Indian kabaddi since 2026. It is the platform that turned mud-court players into crorepatis, that brought kabaddi to television, and that gave birth to a league culture across the country. If PKL's broadcast partner has left and no new one has been found, it means the financial foundation of the entire professional kabaddi ecosystem has been shaken. Kabaddi is a sport that lives on television ratings and short-format packaging. Without broadcast, why would sponsors come?

This is the real news. The expansion of a regional Haryana league from eight to ten teams is happening at a time when the only major national platform is itself in crisis. Call it opportunism or necessity, but calling it 'strong expansion' is absurd.

The Kabaddi Champions League is trying to fill PKL's void. This could be a sensible move. Haryana's players will get a platform to play, a means of livelihood. But its limitation is that it cannot become a substitute for PKL. It has no broadcast, no sponsorship information, no attendance data. It is a developing league, carving out its place in the market.

Governance Silence

The biggest question about this league is: who runs it? Is it sanctioned by the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI)? Are player contracts standard? What are the anti-doping rules? Who are the referees? The report has no answers to any of these.

This silence is dangerous. If this league is not sanctioned, then the national-team eligibility of players playing in it could be questioned. Players like Sunil Malik, described as an Asian Games captain, if they play in this league and it is not sanctioned, it could be a risk to their careers. Federation politics in Indian kabaddi has always been tangled. A new, opaque league could worsen this tangle.

I Could Be Wrong

I am assuming PKL's crisis is deep. But it could be just a temporary delay. If PKL finds a new broadcast partner by 2027, this whole story will change. The Kabaddi Champions League could then become a permanent feeder league, developing talent for PKL. That is not bad. Every major sport has such development leagues.

Second, I have underrated the Rs 5 crore purse. It is possible this amount is subsidised by franchise owners, and the league's real model is still being built. This is common in early-stage Indian leagues. But even then, I cannot accept that a league can run long-term without broadcast and without sponsorship.

Third, and most importantly: does this league include women's kabaddi? India's women's kabaddi team has four Asian Games gold medals. But it has no franchise league. If the Kabaddi Champions League does not give women a platform, it is half a story. I saw that women's gold at Hangzhou in 2026, when they beat Chinese Taipei 26-25. That night I wrote: women's kabaddi has four golds and zero franchise leagues. The attention economy is upside down. This question is just as relevant today.

What to Watch Next

By mid-2027, the picture will become clear. If PKL returns, the Kabaddi Champions League will have to define its place. If PKL does not return, this Haryana league could inadvertently become the country's biggest kabaddi league. That situation is ideal neither for the sport nor for the players.

The real question is not whether the league grew to ten teams or got a Rs 5 crore purse. The real question is: for a sport that has no television, whose federation's intentions are unclear, what will change by adding another league? I am not saying the attempt is wrong. I am saying the attempt is incomplete.