American football which is greatly renowned in the United States, will make its debut in India in December with the launch of Elite Football League of India (EFLI).
An exhibition match with a target to showcase the league will be played between Hyderabad Skykings and Bangalore Warhawks on 20th July at the Astro-Turf Hockey Stadium at Begumpet. League investor and Hyderabad Skykings team owner Venkatesh of Movva Sports declared this today. The official logo of EFLI was uncovered by Venkatesh and actor Sumanth.
According to the reports, South Asia's first professional American football league EFLI will have eight teams located in different cities across India. Currently there are no teams available for sale as all of them are owned by the League. The league has plans to conduct an auction in the future. Previously this year, the EFLI ended an agreement with Movva Sports to procure Hyderabad Skykings.
Notably, all the players in the league will be contracted as well as will be paid monthly salary. Right now, each team will have 34 athletes. The tournament will be telecasted live on Ten Sports network in India and 13 neighboring countries that include a potential audience of 170 million homes.
American football evolved from rugby and is a violent sport with 11 players in a team. The players wear a helmet with face mask along with shoulder and thigh pads. It is the most well known sport in the United States. Very few people know that the National Football League's championship game-the Super Bowl is among the most watched sporting events in the world.
Venkatesh Movva, who hails from Vijayawada and is currently based in the United States, was an early sponsor in the league and owns the Hyderabad team 'Hyderabad Skykings' too. Venkatesh has been responsible for chalking out the player health and safety protocol for the league.
Venkatesh claimed that he is sure that people will fall in love with the game. It is physical, brisk and there is plenty of scoring. They do not interrogate themselves whether this sport will be liked because they already know that the sport is entertaining to watch. What they ask themselves is how willing would the corporates be to support the growth of a new sport.
