SportzPower Pro Leagues Forum to convene in Mumbai on 10 December

MUMBAI: India’s professional leagues are no longer just cricket’s sideshow. On 10 December, the SportzPower Pro Leagues Forum will gather the architects of this Rs 1.3 lakh crore sports economy at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Club in Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai, to decode what is driving the transformation.

The conference, themed “The Business of Leagues, Redefined”, will examine the economics, technology, sponsorship deals, governance structures, media rights and fan engagement innovations that are turning niche sports into commercial juggernauts. Organised by SportzPower, the country’s leading sports business media platform, it targets league and franchise owners, media innovators, investors, brand decision-makers and entrepreneurs shaping India’s league economy.

The speaker roster includes Anupam Goswami, league commissioner of Pro Kabaddi; Vishnu Vardhan Induri, founder of the Celebrity Cricket League and managing director of Vibri Media; Anil Singh, founder and managing director of Procam International; and Gaurav Natekar, founder and chief executive of World Pickleball League, who will deliver the keynote speech.

Vinit Karnik, managing director for content, sports and entertainment at GroupM South Asia, will discuss what brands seek when they use sport and entertainment to reach audiences in a fireside chat. Yannick Colaco, co-founder of FanCode; Dhiraj Malhotra, chief executive of Washington Freedom; Indranil Das Blah, founder of AMP Sports & Entertainment; and Gourav Rakshit, commissioner of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, will also speak.

Other voices include Aditya Datta, founder and chief executive of Impetus Sports Capital; Arun Sadasivan, chief business officer at Fan Play; and Aahna Mehrotra, founder of AM Sports Law & Management. Subhamoy Das, national director at WPP Media Entertainment & Sports Partnerships, will present data and analytics on the economics of sponsorship in the Indian market.

Sessions will tackle building sustainable professional sports leagues, the economics of media rights and sponsorship, how technology and artificial intelligence are reshaping league monetisation, and the rise of “sportainment”, where sport, entertainment and fan culture collide.

The forum is powered by Sony Sports Network and Celebrity Cricket League, in association with World Pickleball League, with WPP Media ESP as knowledge partner, The Free Press Journal as outreach partner, and Accred Master handling lanyards.

As India’s sports landscape splinters into a true multi-sport ecosystem, this gathering promises hard truths about what works, what pays and what keeps fans coming back. The league economy is being redefined. And the people doing the redefining will all be in one room.