Slam dunk: WPL-like basketball league in the works, with the backing of US investors

Female players during the tryouts of Elite Women's Pro Basketball League. Image: EWPBL

The Women's Premier League (WPL) has set the stage for more female-focused leagues. While Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) has announced its plans to launch a women's association, Elite Pro Basketball League (EPBL) is in the development phase of a women's franchise.

Elite Women's Pro Basketball League (EWPBL) will make its debut in August this year and has started tryouts, with the first in Delhi seeing participation from 400 athletes. The next tryouts are scheduled over the next three months in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

The idea of a women's basketball league began to take form when Elite Sports India, which operates EPBL, a new entrant in the sports league space in the country, saw female basketball players asking for tryouts during the trials for the men's league.

"The focus to start a women's basketball league was there since we started the men's league. We saw how WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association, the US professional basketball league) has grown and is valued at $1 million. So we thought of giving a chance to women's basketball. Also, WPL came in and that boosted our confidence further," Sunny Bhandarkar, CEO of the two new basketball leagues, told Moneycontrol.

Bhandarkar said that they have got $2 million in round one from US investors who are closely looking at the basketball space in India and is looking for another fundraising round soon after all the tryouts.

He said that they are going lean with the league and estimates to achieve breakeven by the sixth year but added that the investors in the tournament are in for the long run and have a 10-year plan to go forward with investments in the league.

Women’s league in the making

The league plans to start with six teams but may add two more depending on the talent pool. "Each team will have 11 players. From the tryouts, the players will be divided in three tiers. The first tier will be of players who have represented India internationally, the second will consist of national-level players and in the third tier there will be underdogs who are good but haven't yet received a chance. Every team will have three players from each tier," the CEO said.

He added, "There are not going to be any foreign players for the first three years because we want to promote Indian talent. There will be around 17-18 games and it will be a month-long season. We are in talks for expanding into two more teams and can see a longer season but it all depends on the talent pool we get."

With the plan of going ahead with six teams, the league will be restricted to one venue. "Eventually, we will have a home and away format but a lot depends on the infrastructure for basketball. We don't have wooden courts to pull off something of this level," Bhandarkar said.

He is also in talks with TV networks for the media rights of the women's basketball league. However, with the sport having a limited following, the plan is to get on board a streaming platform to launch the league. "We are looking at a partner that covers all properties like how Disney Star did for PKL."

With just months left before starting the league, Bhandarkar said that he has received a lot of interest from FMCG companies in the US but it is at the nascent stage. "We will get four or five mixed category sponsors on board. US investors and brands have more understanding of the potential that women's basketball has and many companies from the US and Europe want to come to India through this league," he said.

WPL is termed as a game changer for female cricketers and is expected to put women's cricket on a different trajectory. But for women's basketball, Bhandarkar's aim is to make players realise the potential the sport holds in India. There is limited scope for women basketball players in the country and players are focused on getting jobs that the government provides to state and national-level players, said Bhandarkar.

"Around 95 percent of basketball players just want to get a government job. It is good that players have employment opportunities but at a bigger level they should know that they have more options. We don't want government jobs to be the end for the players. With participation in leagues, they have chances to get picked up by international associations and that will influence the next generation to pursue basketball," he said.