Yogasana Super League: An IPL-themed competition to boost yoga's Olympic dream

The first World Yogasana Championship has left the sport with a sense of optimism about its future and long-term sustainability. The vision has always been clear — to position Yogasana for the biggest stage possible, especially if India succeeds in its bid to host the 2036 Olympics, with Ahmedabad expected to be at the heart of the festivities.

India dominated the inaugural World Yogasana Championship, winning 80 medals, including 70 golds. But beyond the medal tally, the focus has now shifted towards what comes next.

The first major milestone is making Yogasana a demonstration sport at the Olympics. Yogasana Bharat president Udit Sheth revealed that the roadmap begins well before 2036.

"You can see that by 2032 you may get a demo, not a medal tally, because before that it should become a medal sport in the Commonwealth Games," said Sheth to the media on the sidelines of the World Yogasana Championship.

"Before that, maybe in 2028 or 2030, you can see it in the Asian Games also as a medal sport. Once it becomes a medal sport, then we can talk about the Olympics."

Alongside the Olympic push is perhaps the most ambitious project yet — the launch of an IPL-inspired franchise competition, the Yogasana Super League.

Sheth revealed that nearly 90 percent of the preparations for the league are complete and that the project is ready to move into its next phase.

The league is expected to become a key pillar in Yogasana's bid for Olympic recognition while also helping expand the sport's global footprint.

WHAT'S THE FORMAT?

According to Sheth, the league will not follow a traditional sporting structure. Instead, it will blend elements of entertainment and elite competition, borrowing ideas from talent-based reality shows while retaining the competitive edge of franchise sports.

The Yogasana Bharat chief said the league would be a hybrid model, drawing inspiration from shows such as America's Got Talent and Indian Idol, while also incorporating elements of football's franchise-league ecosystem.

Importantly, it will not be as long as major football leagues that stretch over six months.

The competition is expected to begin with eight teams before gradually expanding into a larger ecosystem.

"The league will be a hybrid format between America's Got Talent or Indian Idol with the cross of a football Super League or a Premier League."

"We will start small because we have to start. This league will not take six months. For example, the NBA season goes on for four months and then they have the playoffs."

"Because they are 30-plus teams. We will start with maybe eight teams, but the idea is to very quickly grow to about 30 teams and then take this championship kind of a format into Europe, take it into America," said Sheth.

The long-term vision stretches far beyond India. Yogasana Bharat hopes to establish multiple versions of the league across continents before eventually creating a global club competition.

"We are not going to stop over here. We will have different versions of this on different continents and create a pyramid. Then we will have a Champions League which is a global league. So there are a lot of things that we need to do," said Sheth.

WHICH CITIES WILL BE THERE?

The host cities and franchise locations are yet to be finalised.

For now, Yogasana Bharat is looking at potential markets through a commercial lens, focusing on viewership potential and sponsor appeal during the league's formative years.

Sheth said that while participation could come from anywhere in the country, franchise locations would be selected based on markets where the sport can be consumed and developed.

"We are looking at it from a TRP perspective, where yoga is mostly taken. But I have to balance it with maximum spends those cities have in terms of media spends or advertising spends or people spending."

"At the end of the day it has to be sponsor-friendly. It doesn't matter whether the Yogasana athlete is coming from Rishikesh or he is coming from Kodaikanal. It doesn't matter. We will go to the market where it can be consumed, where it can be grown," said Sheth.

WILL FOREIGN ATHLETES BE PRESENT?

Just like the IPL, the Yogasana Super League is expected to have a significant international flavour.

Sheth confirmed that foreign athletes will form a sizeable portion of the player pool, helping create a more competitive and globally appealing product.

"Thirty percent foreign athletes will be part of it. They will have to learn a lot more. We have a lot of catching up to do from them to here because they have always done asanas in a traditional way. Now they have to learn all of this," said Sheth.

According to sources, Yogasana Bharat is targeting a launch window around September this year.

Whether the league becomes the game-changing platform the sport hopes for remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that Yogasana's ambitions are no longer confined to championship medals. From an Olympic roadmap to a franchise ecosystem modelled on some of the world's biggest sporting competitions, the sport is attempting its boldest leap yet.