Prime Volleyball League

Last updated

Prime Volleyball League
Current season, competition or edition:
Volleyball current event.svg 2025 Prime Volleyball League
Prime Volleyball League official logo.png
Sport Volleyball
Founded2021;4 years ago (2021)
First season 2022
CEO Joy Bhattacharjya
Administrator Baseline Ventures
No. of teams 10
CountryIndia
Confederation AVC
Most recent
champion(s)
Calicut Heroes (1st title)
(2024)
Most titles Kolkata Thunderbolts
Ahmedabad Defenders
Calicut Heroes (1 title each)
Broadcaster(s) Sony Sports
Streaming partner(s) YouTube
International cup(s) CAVA Men's Club Championship
Official website primevolleyballleague.com

Prime Volleyball League is a professional men's indoor volleyball league in India. The inaugural season took place in February 2022. [1] The league is an initiative of Baseline Ventures with no involvement from Volleyball Federation of India and a rechristened version of the Pro Volleyball League which was held in February 2019. [2] Sony Pictures Networks India is the official broadcaster of the league. [3]

Contents

Background

The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) in association with the Baseline Ventures launched and conducted the inaugural season of a franchise-based indoor volleyball league called Pro Volleyball League in 2019 and Chennai Spartans won the title. [4] Later it was discontinued in the same year after the VFI and Baseline got embroiled in a dispute and the federation terminated the 10-year contract with Baseline alleging breach of trust. [5] In November 2020, a Madras High Court-appointed arbitrator found the termination wrongful and awarded 4.5 crore to Baseline as compensation for terminating its contract. [6] In June 2021, Baseline Ventures joined hands with few original franchise owners from Pro Volleyball League to launch a new league called Prime Volleyball League with no involvement from VFI this time. Five of the six teams (Ahmedabad, Calicut, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi) from Pro Volleyball League returned to this league with two new teams (Bengaluru and Kolkata) were added. [2]

On 14 February 2022, VFI announced the launch of Indian Volleyball League, making it the only recognised league by VFI in India. [7]

Volleyball World has signed multiple-year contract with Prime Volleyball League. Prime Volleyball League will broadcast globally through its platform. [8]

In October 2022, the league announced an eighth team called the Mumbai Meteors that is based in Mumbai which played the 2023 Prime Volleyball League season. They were bought by the PhonePe owners. [9]

In December 2023, the league announced a ninth team called the Delhi Toofans that is based in Delhi which will play the 2024 Prime Volleyball League season. They were bought by the Sanghi Group. [10]

Teams

The Prime Volleyball League encompassed nine franchises, representing cities across India. The new team for the 2024 season is the Delhi Toofans. [11]

Team nameCityCaptainHead coachInternational playersTeam ownerDebutRef.
Ahmedabad Defenders Ahmedabad, Gujarat Flag of India.svg Muthusamy Appavu Flag of India.svg Sajjad Hussain
Flag of India.svg S Dakshinamoorthy
Flag of the United States.svg Ryan Meehan
Flag of Argentina.svg Rodrigo Villalboa
Bonhomie Sports2022 [12]
Bengaluru Torpedoes Bengaluru, Karnataka Flag of India.svg Ranjit Singh Flag of India.svg K R Lakshminarayana Flag of the United States.svg Kyle Friend
Flag of the United States.svg Noah Taitano
Limitless Human Performance2022 [13]
Calicut Heroes Kozhikode, Kerala Flag of India.svg Jerome Vinith Flag of India.svg Kishor Kumar Flag of the United States.svg David Lee
Flag of France.svg Aaron Koubi
Beacon Sports2022 [14]
Chennai Blitz Chennai, Tamil Nadu Flag of India.svg Mohan Ukkrapandian Flag of India.svg Chander Singh Flag of Brazil.svg Bruno Da Silva Amorim
Flag of Venezuela.svg Fernando David Gonzalez
SPP Group2022 [15]
Goa Guardians Goa JothishCHEKURI SPORTS VENTURES PRIVATE LIMITED2025
Hyderabad Black Hawks Hyderabad, Telangana Flag of India.svg Vipul Kumar Flag of Argentina.svg Ruben Wolochin Flag of Cuba.svg Henry Bell Cisnero
Flag of Venezuela.svg Luis Antonio Arias
GlobalArena6 Sports LLP2022 [16]
Kochi Blue Spikers Kochi, Kerala Flag of India.svg Karthik Flag of India.svg Dr. M. H. Kumara Flag of the United States.svg Colton Cowell
Flag of the United States.svg Cody Caldwell
M Liga Sports2022 [17]
Mumbai Meteors Mumbai, Maharashtra Flag of India.svg Abhijit Bhattacharya Flag of Cuba.svg Hiroshi Centelles
Flag of the United States.svg Brandon Greenway
Meteor Sports LLP 2023 [18]
Kolkata Thunderbolts Kolkata, West Bengal Flag of India.svg Ashwal Rai Flag of India.svg Sunny Joseph Flag of the United States.svg Matthew August
Flag of the United States.svg Ian Woo Satterfield
Kolkata Sports Ventures2022 [19]

Format

PVL 2022

Each team will have 12 players with the provision of a maximum of two reserve players. All teams have a salary purse of 75 lakhs from which they can pick their team via an auction and player draft. Each team can pick maximum of two International players for ₹25 to ₹30 lakhs while the Indian players are chosen via an auction from the remaining money. The auction was taken place in Kochi on 14 December 2021. Players were divided into five categories with different base prices set for each category – International, Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and U-21 players. [20] [21]

There are a total of 24 matches with each team plays against each other in a single round-robin format with the top 4 teams moving into the Play-Offs. The tournament was earlier scheduled to be held in Kochi but later moved to Hyderabad due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. [1] All the matches will be held in Hyderabad at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium.

Tournament seasons and results

PVL season results

SeasonFinalFinal venueNo. of
teams
Ref.
WinnerScoreRunner-up
2022
Details
Kolkata Thunderbolts 3–0 Ahmedabad Defenders Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad 7 [22]
2023
Details
Ahmedabad Defenders 3–2 Bengaluru Torpedoes Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Kochi 8 [23]
2024
Details
Calicut Heroes 3–1 Delhi Toofans Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai 9 [24]
2025
Details

Titles by the club

TeamWinnersRunners-upPlayoffsYears WonYears Runner-upYears PlayoffsNo. of seasons played
Ahmedabad Defenders 112 2023 2022 2022, 2023 2
Kolkata Thunderbolts 102 2022 _ 2022, 2023 2
Calicut Heroes 102 2024 _ 2022, 2023 2
Bengaluru Torpedoes 011_ 2023 2023 2
Chennai Blitz 000___2
Hyderabad Black Hawks 001__ 2022 2
Kochi Blue Spikers 000___2
Mumbai Meteors000___1
Delhi Toofans000___0

Marketing Performance

TV viewership increased by a staggering 55%, with a colossal 206 million people tuning in to watch the matches throughout the second season.The PVL also drew equal interest from female audiences with the gender ratio between male and female TV viewers being 58:42. [25]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "India to host its first-ever Prime Volleyball League in Hyderabad". The New Indian Express . Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Prime league launched, VFI not amused". The New Indian Express . Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  3. "Prime Volleyball gets backing of 5 original team owners, signs Sony as long-term broadcast partner – Piston Des Sport". Piston Des Sport. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  4. "Pro Volleyball League co-owner to take legal action against VFI". Sportstar . Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  5. "VFI terminates contract with Pro Volleyball League co-owners". Sportstar . Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  6. "Volleyball league to return in a new avatar sans federation support". The Economic Times . Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  7. Nair, Abhijit (14 February 2022). "PVL is illegal, says Federation while announcing Indian Volleyball League". thebridge.in. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  8. Preechachan (4 October 2022). "VOLLEYBALL WORLD TO STREAM THE RUPAY PRIME VOLLEYBALL LEAGUE GLOBALLY". Asian Volleyball Confederation. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  9. BE STAFF (10 October 2022). "PhonePe acquires team Mumbai Meteors for Prime Volleyball 2023". ET Brand Equity.com. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  10. ANI (14 December 2023). "Delhi Toofans join Prime Volleyball League for season 3". aninews.in. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  11. ANI (14 December 2023). "Delhi Toofans join Prime Volleyball League for season 3". aninews.in. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  12. "Ahmedabad Defenders | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  13. "Bengaluru Torpedoes | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  14. "Calicut Heroes | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  15. "Chennai Blitz | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  16. "Hyderabad Black Hawks | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  17. "Kochi Blue Spikers | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  18. BE STAFF (10 October 2022). "PhonePe acquires team Mumbai Meteors for Prime Volleyball 2023". ET Brand Equity.com. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  19. "Kolkata Thunderbolts | Prime Volleyball League Team". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  20. "Prime Volleyball League 2021 Auctions: Full list of players sold in auction". Sportstar . Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  21. Rayan, Stan (13 December 2021). "Prime Volleyball League to be held in Kochi in 2022". sportstar.thehindu.com. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  22. "2022 Fixtures and Results | Prime Volleyball League". PrimeVolleyballLeague.com.
  23. "Prime Volleyball League 2023 final result and score".
  24. "Prime Volleyball League 2024 final result and score".
  25. Preechachan (17 April 2023). "INDIA'S RUPAY PRIME VOLLEYBALL LEAGUE'S SECOND SEASON A MAJOR SUCCESS WITH TV VIEWERSHIP OF 206 MILLION". Asian Volleyball Confederation. Retrieved 22 April 2023.