Shooting India League: NRAI plans for only mixed-team formats, making the sport more broadcast-friendly

“The idea is to make the sport of shooting more audience-friendly and broadcast-friendly. Currently, shooting is not broadcast-friendly. We plan to work out a way to capture more TV viewership,” Kalikesh Singh Deo, NRAI President, told The Indian Express.

“We will be working together with all the stakeholders, including broadcasters and franchise owners, to make the league attractive without losing the core visibility of the sport,” he added further.

NRAI plans to keep the league in a mixed-team format across disciplines, eliminating the individual competitions. “We have decided that all six formats will be in mixed team formats, and the shooters will directly compete in the final,” said Kalikesh.

“The reasoning behind the format is that it will take less time, reducing the pressure on the shooter, and it will also be easy and exciting for the audience. Apart from the shooters and the audience, the format will make it interesting on how teams are picked,” Kalikesh added.

The league will feature mixed team events in Pistol (10M, 25M), Rifle (10M, 50M 3P), and Shotgun (Trap & Skeet), as per guidelines of the technical committee.

The league has garnered significant interest from the global shooting community, with more than 35 international shooters registering for the event. “When I was in Peru for the World Cup, a lot of international shooters and managers came up to me wanting to know more about the league. Prize money is one of the incentives for them to come and play here. We will have some notable names featuring in the league,” Kalikesh said. While there is no clarity on what the prize money is likely to be, Kalikesh said that it will be announced in due course.

The players will be grouped into four tiers — Elite Champions, World Elite, National Champions, and Junior & Youth Championships — to balance experienced veterans and emerging talents.

Franchise-based sporting leagues for individual sports have failed to make their mark on the Indian market apart from cricket and to some extent kabaddi, so far. So NRAI’s challenge will be to succeed with the idea of projecting shooting as a team sport to the audience. When asked if there is a market for shooting as a team sport, Kalikesh said, “We believe so, and it is important for any sport to keep trying out new things to stay successful in the long term. The thought of men and women shooting next to each other is something that makes the idea exciting. Another thing that makes it more exciting is finals are happening directly.”