INDIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Aarushi Jain, Pooja Kapadia and Maya Venkiteswaran, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
Sports Leagues: The New Gold Rush in Entertainment Sports leagues have seen a substantial increase in numbers in 2024-25. Several new leagues hosted their first editions in 2024-25, notably: • the Kho Kho World Cup, 2025 was hosted in January 2025 in New Delhi and saw 23 nations participate; • the World Pickleball League was also hosted in January 2025 in Mumbai and saw players from more than 14 countries take part. Celeb - rities like Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Atlee, Rakul Preet Singh, Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh, Rishabh Pant and Sunil Gavaskar own/co- own different franchisees in this league; • the Rugby Premier League, one of the world’s first franchise-based rugby leagues, is the product of a ten-year partnership between Rugby India and GMR Sports and is set to take place in 2025; and • the Women’s Hockey India League is set to take place in 2025 with teams being owned by companies such as JSW Sports. Many more leagues are in the pipeline for the year ahead. Sporting leagues aside, India is set to host its first “continental tour javelin-only event” in May 2025 and the first-ever World Athletics Conti - nental Tour event in August 2025. These events are expected to provide Indian athletes with an opportunity to showcase their potential, while also establishing India’s ability to host major sporting events, in the build-up to India’s bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games. The popularity of sports will likely boost sports tourism as well.
The Aces of Acquisition Passing the torch: New leadership
The last year also saw changes in ownership dynamics in several established leagues includ - ing the following. • Healthcare and energy conglomerate Torrent Group recently acquired a majority stake of 67% in the IPL franchise Gujarat Titans from Irelia Company Pte Ltd. • Vedanta, a leading Indian MNC, acquired Kalinga Lancers, a Bhubaneswar-based hockey team in the Hockey India League. • Toyam Sports Limited, a publicly listed company which is dedicated to the produc - tion, promotion and management of various sports, acquired the Hyderabad franchise in Legends League Cricket. It is evident that the sports industry has expand - ed from being a small-scale ecosystem with businesses focused on a few mainstream sports to now being a massive industry in search of new opportunities to tap into. Conglomerates and celebrities are increasingly seen purchas - ing teams and even leagues across a variety of sports, which bodes well for sports’ future. Indians go global Indians are taking a leap of faith and transcend - ing boundaries to invest globally. GMR Group, in a first-of-its-kind deal, recently acquired Hamp - shire County Cricket Club setting a new prec - edent in the sport. The GMR Group also acted as the principal sponsor of the Seattle Orcas for the Major League Cricket season. As per recent news reports, Reliance Industries Limited won a virtual auction to acquire a 49% stake in the Oval Invincibles cricket team. Simi - larly, the RPSG Group won a bid to purchase the majority stake in the Manchester Originals while
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