Star Sports gets eight sponsors for Pro Kabaddi League Season 8

The league will return after a two-year hiatus and will have sponsors like Vivo, Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles, A23, Dream11, Mfine, Byju’s, Officer’s Choice and Parimatch News.

Some of these and others are also advertisers for the league such as Mfine, A23, Parimatch News, Winzo, GSK, and Luminous, among others. This is the league’s eighth season and will be played at a single venue, Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention Center without audiences.

“The overall reception from advertisers is a testament to the brand value of India’s homegrown sport. We have solidified our position as a broadcaster that provides advertisers with customized creative solutions to drive high engagement and are confident that the interest among advertisers will only continue to grow with each passing year,” said a Star Sports spokesperson.

The league has a new format that will feature Triple Panga (Triple Headers) on the first four days in the opening week. Bengaluru Bulls will square off with U Mumba in the opening match. The ‘Southern Derby’ between Tamil Thalaivas and Telugu Titans will be the second match followed by UP Yoddha squaring off with defending champions Bengal Warriors in the final match of the day.

The PKL player auctions held in August this year had retained 59 players ahead of the season in Mumbai. In the auction, over 450 players went under the hammer and of those 190 players were sold for ₹48.22 crore. Noteworthy player auctions included Pardeep Narwal who was bought by UP Yoddha for ₹1.65 crore, becoming one of the most expensive players auctioned at a league outside of cricket. Siddharth Desai was retailed by Telugu Titans for ₹1.30 crore.

The game’s format is influenced by the Indian Premier League. There are 12 teams in total and the current champion is Bengal Warriors. Patan Pirates on the other hand has had a total of three titles in the eight seasons.