Since we run IPL team, we are capable of running Rugby league: GMR Sports CEO Trivedi

New Delhi: Rugby might rank low in the popularity charts of India's sporting landscape but it has tremendous potential to garner eyeballs with the upcoming Rugby Premier League (RPL), feels GMR Sports CEO and the event's promoter Satyam Trivedi.

The inaugural RPL will be held from June 15 to 29 at the Mumbai Football Arena in Andheri featuring six franchises Delhi Redz, Hyderabad Heroes, Kalinga Black Tigers, Chennai Bulls, Mumbai Dreamers and Bengaluru Bravehearts.

Trivedi, who has considerable experience of running multiple IPL franchises, including the GMR co-owned Delhi Capitals, told PTI about the rationale behind the group becoming a driving force in organising the inaugural edition of Rugby Premier League.

"We thought that we've been managing this business for a very long time. And I think of the scale of managing an IPL team, you can imagine is one of the largest properties, and we've developed capabilities internally," Trivedi said.

"So idea was that, why don't we leverage our experience, our expertise, and move up the value chain and look at opportunities outside franchise. So when this opportunity came, obviously it started with a franchise conversation.

"But we just took one day to go back and say that not at a franchise level, but we want to invest at a League level," he recalled when asked about how it all started.

The format will be Rugby 7s, which is recognised as an Olympic sport.

Unlike traditional Rugby Union format where there are two halves of 40 minutes each with 15 players per side, the 7s is a format where there are seven players on field with two halves of 7 minutes.

However in RPL, keeping the TV audience in mind, it has been tweaked to four quarters of four minutes each with two-minute break between quarters.

Trivedi underlined why he thought the league can work in the long run.

"It's a shorter format and we think it works very well. Because if you look at the consumer pattern...They want to look at shorter format. The attention span has drastically gone down.

"We had to keep that in mind. So we think that this is a great on-ground as well as television product. That's one reason to hold the league," he reasoned.

"Secondly, Rugby India is a great Federation to work with. They are very committed. (Actor) Rahul Bose, who is the president of Rugby India, is also very committed towards the development of sport. Today, there are 250 districts in India where rugby is played," he added.

Trivedi also gave a peek into the kind of money marquee players will be getting for the two-week tourney.

"International marquee player coming here for two weeks and one week of camp or maybe 10 days of camp, they would get about USD 15,000. The bridge players (from Tier-2 Rugby Nations) will be getting around USD 5000." The Indian players will be paid between Rs 50,000 to Rs 550,000.

"The salary cap was kept at Rs 70 lakh per team," he informed.