Haryana's Kabaddi Champions League: The Rs 5-Crore Purse, a Rs 17.4-Lakh Star, and the Story of PKL's Silence

I still remember an evening in August 2026 at the Balewadi press box in Pune. Puneri Paltan had beaten Bengaluru Bulls and forty minutes had passed since the final whistle, but a few dozen fans outside the gate were still arguing about Deepak Hooda's 11 raid points and Girish Ernak's 4 tackle points. I wrote down 23 of their questions. That night I understood that the real data of kabaddi does not live in the press box — it lives in the pocket of the man outside that gate: his job, his age, his son's dream.

Nine years later, in November 2026, as I read the news of the Haryana Kabaddi Champions League expanding from 8 to 10 teams, that same diary question has returned. The report says each franchise gets a Rs 5 crore auction purse, and the most expensive player, Ayan Lochab, went for Rs 17.4 lakh. These numbers sound like progress. But I have read this sport's calendar alongside its payroll for over two decades, and I have to tell you that the biggest fact in this story is buried in paragraph four — the Pro Kabaddi League, the commercial anchor of the entire sport, is in a broadcast-rights crisis, and its next season has been pushed to June-July 2027.

First, the foundation every reader should know

Kabaddi is a 7-vs-7 contact sport. A raider enters the opponent's half chanting 'kabaddi' continuously to prove he is not holding his breath, and scores by touching defenders and returning safely. That 30-second action is a raid. The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) began in 2026 and is now the sport's biggest professional platform, where auctions run into crores. And an 'auction purse' is the total budget a franchise gets to bid for players — not prize money, but working capital.

Now look at that Rs 5 crore closely. It is roughly US$600,000. A single PKL team's typical auction outlay has been several multiples of that. Which means the Haryana Champions League is not competing with PKL on player quality — it is operating several tiers below. That is not a bad thing, provided it is said honestly. The problem is that the report does not even clarify whether the 5 crore is per franchise or the league's total budget. With such a basic ambiguity, no claim of expansion 'strength' can be made.

Ten cities, one state — and the heavy name of 'Champions League'

The league's ten franchises are Bhiwani, Rohtak, Karnal, Gurugram, Sonipat, Panipat, Faridabad, Hisar, Jhajjar and Kurukshetra. All in Haryana. This is a regional league that has borrowed the shine of European football by adding 'Champions League' to its name. Haryana is called India's sports nursery; its mud akhadas produce wrestlers and kabaddi players. For Chinese readers, think of it this way: just as one Chinese province disproportionately supplies Olympic wrestlers, Haryana supplies kabaddi. But despite the name, the league has no presence in Maharashtra, Punjab or South India. Calling it a national competition would be dishonest with the facts.

The league's real strength is its recruitment process. The report says over 6,400 players registered for trials, and from roughly 7,000 participants, more than 300 were placed in the auction pool. This figure is often misread. It does not show the league's popularity — it shows the scarcity of sporting opportunity in Haryana's villages. Six thousand four hundred young men are standing at the door of a league where the most expensive player costs Rs 17.4 lakh. This is an indicator of hope, not demand.

The most expensive player at 17.4 lakh — and the 'Asian Games captain' at 10 lakh

Here I need to stop and fact-check, because in my twenty years of experience this is exactly where sports journalism slips most. The report says Sunil Malik, described as 'India's Asian Games captain', was sold for Rs 10 lakh. And the most expensive player, Ayan Lochab, for Rs 17.4 lakh.

Now think about it. If someone genuinely captained India's Standard Style kabaddi team at the Asian Games, his valuation in PKL would run into crores. Rs 10 lakh is remarkably low for that person. There are only three possible explanations: the designation is stale and he is no longer at that level, or it refers to a Circle Style team (the mud-circle variant) or a past edition, or the report is simply wrong. I was in Jakarta in 2026 when Iran beat India 27-18 in the semifinal — I have seen every member of that Indian squad, and I know what a captain at that level is worth in the market. Printing this designation without verification is the same old habit I have written against for years: stick on the credential, sort out the price match later.

And the real issue is that the report names five players but gives not one raid point, tackle point or success rate for any of them. I cannot assess player quality from price alone. Rs 17.4 lakh is not proof that Ayan Lochab is a good raider — it only tells us he drew the highest bid that day. Market price and on-mat performance are two different things, and a journalist's job is to keep that distinction clear.

The paragraph that is the most important part of the whole story

Now the point for which I wrote this entire piece. Midway through, the report says with great ease that PKL's 13th season has been pushed to June-July 2027 because the league's broadcast partner left and no new one has arrived. This is being read as a scheduling note. To me, it is the biggest shock to the entire Indian kabaddi ecosystem.

Since 2026, kabaddi stands on television. Short format, fast matches, a ninety-minute package — all of it was built for TV ratings. If PKL does not play a season, the professional layer loses both its media presence and its sponsorship base. And a regional, ten-team league with a top price of Rs 17 lakh cannot fill that gap. It is a stopgap, not a substitute.

This is where I remember my 2026 diary, when PKL's eighth season was postponed. I tracked 14 Puneri Paltan players across 87 days. Nine had returned to family farms in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh; only three had gym access. Girish Ernak was doing rope-skipping on a terrace — a 90-minute video call, and he did not ask once about his form. He asked about his father's crop. That year I added a 'livelihood paragraph' to every profile: off-season work, family income, gym access — and form questions last.

The question is not whether the league is growing, but whose pocket is filling

Here I must avoid the old habit I often slip into: nostalgia for the mud court. It is true that Circle Style and the village tournament are fading, but I must ask myself — am I mourning its loss, or the income of the players attached to it? If the answer is the latter, I must name names: who lost money and who merely lost a highlight.

What stings most about this league is its silence. The report mentions no broadcast deal, no sponsorship, no attendance, no revenue. Only team count rising and purse rising. This is the classic pattern of 'growth dressed up as progress'. And the biggest concern is that the league mentions no sanctioning body — neither the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) nor the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF). If the league is unsanctioned, players' eligibility for national-team selection could be questioned. For a player like Sunil Malik, that is not a minor risk.

From my experience I can say that the history of India's non-cricket leagues is full of such claims — big name, big announcement, then silence. The Hockey India League, the TNPL, several state-level experiments — all taught the same lesson: without broadcast and sponsorship, expansion stays on paper.

The question that will be settled next season

I do not pity this league, nor do I dismiss it. 6,400 trialists and ten Haryana cities are a real thing — it can serve as a bridge during PKL's silence. But a bridge works only when the banks are visible. I have three questions whose answers will come in the next few months: does PKL find a new broadcaster, does this league get AKFI sanction, and does any of its TV or digital rights sell.

My diary still holds the 23 questions of that Pune fan. One of them was: 'Sir, my son wants a career in kabaddi, but if there is no league, what does he do?' Neither a Rs 5 crore purse nor a Rs 17.4 lakh star answers that question. The answer will come where a broadcast contract is signed on some official's desk — or is not.