Badminton Gets Its First Professional City Franchise League In The US

India-West News Desk

RIVERSIDE, CA – A former professional badminton athlete from India, Akshay Are, has launched what he says is the first city-franchise professional badminton league in the US, seeking to give the sport a professional foothold in a country where it has long lacked a major domestic league.

Are, who played badminton professionally for a decade and holds an MBA from UC Riverside’s Gary Anderson School of Management, unveiled the American Badminton Premier League (ABPL) August 28 before a packed audience at UC Riverside’s AGSM Business Auditorium.

The inaugural ABPL lineup will feature eight city franchises: the New York Shuttlers, Chicago Rushers, Dallas Slingers, Houston Chargers, Seattle Gliders, Atlanta Dashers, Bay Area Strikers and L.A. Smashers. The Los Angeles franchise is a nod to the city hosting the 2028 Olympic Games.

“The wait for professional badminton in America is over,” Are told the audience. “This sport has a billion fans worldwide and elite athletes who’ve had nowhere to go in this country. That changes today.”

Badminton has been an Olympic sport since 1992 and is played widely around the world, but the sport has had limited opportunities at the highest competitive levels in the United States. The country has not had a professional city-franchise league, an NCAA Division I badminton program or athletic scholarships for the sport.

Are said the ABPL is intended to help fill that gap by creating a professional platform for athletes and building a stronger competitive structure for badminton in the U.S.

The launch brought together athletes, supporters and guests connected to USA Badminton.

The league also has particular significance for the Indian American community, where badminton is widely played and international stars including Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu have become household names. 

Are is also leading the Bring Back Badminton campaign, which seeks to restore badminton’s status as an NCAA Emerging Sport for Women. The sport lost that designation in August 2009 after failing to meet the NCAA’s threshold of 40 participating schools.

The ABPL has not yet announced its commercial partners, organizational leadership or inaugural player roster.