October 29, 2025

This weekend, the thrilling fourth season of the Prime Volleyball League closed with Bengaluru Torpedoes winning their first-ever championship title! In a land full of struggling sports leagues, PVL is slowly becoming a bright star. The journey wasn't easy - rebranding challenges, legal troubles, and many hurdles tested the league. But it's shining bright! Unlike big leagues like IPL or Pro Kabaddi, PVL's entire season happened in one city this year: Hyderabad. Joy Bhattacharjya, CEO of PVL, and Tuhin Mishra, managing director and co-founder of Baseline Ventures (PVL's co-promoters), shared why they chose this unique approach in a chat with The Hindu. Joy explained, “There are two or three factors that we looked at. One is the cost, hosting it in one city versus moving around a lot. Last year, we did the league in Chennai. Hyderabad is a great base for us... Rather than moving around a lot, we decided to focus on giving Hyderabad a great experience and using the money saved from moving around to really bolster the presence, both on television on Sony and on OTT, which is YouTube, with whom we forged a global partnership.” Tuhin added, “We have seen a lot of support coming from the state governments... the Telangana government came forward to help us with organising this league.” He also praised the Gachibowli indoor stadium as one of India’s best for volleyball. When asked about the benefits of hosting in one city, Tuhin was clear: “Definitely [it is], when a league is just growing. Every new city adds three to four crores in cost. We’d save money and use it for marketing and sport development instead.” The league's reach is impressive. Even if stadiums are not full, TV and online audiences are huge. Season 3 had about 200 million viewers! Tuhin said, "Our aim is more at a television and OTT levels... We want to democratise the way people are watching the sport." PVL isn’t just about the men’s game. Joy is keen on women's volleyball but warns of challenges: "We need a base of at least 45-50 really decent players... If we start something and we don’t get good and even quality, we will just send the sport back another 10 years." One of the league’s biggest headaches was its official status in India. Joy admitted, “The biggest problem has been solved by Tuhin... The international federation recognises what we have done and has come in partnership with us.” Tuhin shared a powerful insight: “Almost 95% of the players came forward and said, 'To hell with anyone who is going to try and stop us.'” On stadium attendance, Tuhin said it is not as critical as in cricket because volleyball stadiums are smaller. Still, they want enough ground fans to inspire players and create energy. Joy proudly noted, “You feel the action in front of you,” praising how the stadium design brings fans close to the game. PVL’s unique ownership model is another success. Tuhin asserted, “Unless you carry everyone along with you, you will just have an owner who will come for one season and will run away... When you are actually sitting at the table, you are invested.” This teamwork is helping PVL grow steadily, one season and one ball at a time. In a country thirsty for strong sporting structures, the Prime Volleyball League is smashing hurdles and setting a smashing example. With bold moves, smart partnerships, and passionate players and owners, PVL is making volleyball India's next big sporting hero!

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Tags: Prime volleyball league, Bengaluru torpedoes, Hyderabad, Volleyball india, Joy bhattacharjya, Tuhin mishra,