New Sumo league to hold inaugural event in Austin
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Competitors wrestle in a London sumo bout last year. Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
A new professional sumo wrestling league will debut in the Austin area next month.
Why it matters: As violent combat sports grow in popularity — think UFC — the Sumo Championship League is betting it can sell a family-friendly version.
What they're saying: "Some of the other (combat sports) are a little rougher," league chairman and CEO Stuart Snyder tells Axios. "There's nothing here a family would be offended by. The sport is entirely based on tradition, sportsmanship and honor — things a parent can embrace."
- Snyder, who has worked as an executive at WWE, Ringling Brothers and the Cartoon Network, said he selected Austin for the launch in part because of its sports environment, diversifying population, and concentration of young families.
What's happening: The league, with 45 athletes from nine countries, will hold its inaugural competition Oct. 10 at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Tickets start at about $45.
- Total prize money for the event is $15,000.
- Other scheduled competitions are in Chicago in November and Ontario, California, in December.
Follow the money: Snyder says he has raised $5 million to jumpstart the league. He declined to disclose the investors.
- Snyder tells Axios the league is looking for a media partner to broadcast the matches. He says the goal is ultimately one "show" a month.
Zoom in: Among the athletes is Jonithan "Jiva" Pilgrim, 35, who lives in Bastrop County — he wrestled at Austin High and Texas State — and trains at Dark Circle, a sumo club in South Austin.
- "My nature is to be a warrior and a fighter, but I aspire to something that isn't just a bunch of barbarians beating their chest and blood strewn all over the floor and people covering their eyes because someone has broken an arm," Pilgrim, a quality assurance engineer at a drug store company, tells Axios.
The bottom line: The sport requires "self-control and temperance," Katie Hardeman, an adviser to Snyder and a Georgia-based sumo trainer, tells Axios.
- Win or lose, "you don't bleat, you don't throw a fit, you accept what has happened and step out. It's something we're lacking as a society."