Sumo Championship League (SCL) launches later this year. The new promotion promises to bring professional sumo to American audiences with a mandate to combine authenticity, action and a family friendly viewing experience.
SCL is the latest organization looking to seize upon sumo, which has seen its popularity rise steadily over recent years. That surging popularly has been buoyed by the recent exhibition tournaments at London’s Royal Albert Hall and Paris’ Accor Arena.
I spoke with SCL co-founder Stuart Snyder about the promotion and his goals for this year and beyond. Snyder is the former President and COO of both World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the company responsible for Disney on Ice, Ringling Bros. and other iconic live productions. More recently Snyder was the President and COO of Turner Broadcasting’s animation arm where he oversaw production at Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and a number of other channels.
He founded SCL with Toper Taylor a former talent agent with the William Morris Agency. Taylor is also a former television executive.
Snyder first encountered sumo during one of his many trips to Japan, but he rediscovered the sport more recently. That experience inspired him to apply his extensive production expertise to the centuries-old combat sport.
“Boy, there is this great, amazing sport that is deep in tradition and honour and sportsmanship, but has not been exposed outside of Japan, especially in the US,” said Snyder, who is convinced that American audiences will fall in love with sumo.
“I saw first hand – amateur events, exhibition events – the crowd lights up on sumo wrestling. People who have never seen it before, who went to see it out of curiosity, they say, ‘Boy I would see that again!'”
Snyder and Taylor’s goal with SCL is to blend aspects of traditional sumo (Grand Sumo, which happens only in Japan), with the accessibility of amateur sumo (which is practised across the world) and the live entertainment and story-telling elements they are familiar with in their previous roles.
“We want to honour Japanese culture,” said Snyder. “These will be real matches, with respect to the traditions of Japanese sumo wrestling, but we also want to make it accessible for today’s fans and make it accessible for live audiences. So that could mean bringing some entertainment value that is not traditional.”
Many details of SCL are still under development. However, Snyder was eager to share that he envisions an openweight roster of 15-20 wrestlers competing in 12-18 tournaments during the sports debut season. The debut season will feature only male wrestlers. There is hope that a second season could expand to feature female competition as well. SCL plans to recruit wrestlers from the growing amateur sumo scene in the United States and abroad, as well as from sports such as American football and professional wrestling.
We want to make stars out of sumo wrestlers.
Stuart Snyder, Sumo Championship League
“I’m pleased to say we have a lot of interest [in competing in SCL],” said Snyder. “Including wrestlers from Japan. We’re reaching out to amateur sumo clubs for people with experience, but we’re also looking for other athletes who can transition.
“We see this as an opportunity to provide former athletes with a second career and income and another day in the sun where they can be competitive and hopefully become a star. We want to make stars out of sumo wrestlers.”
SCL’s proposed format includes one-night tournaments where wrestlers compete in a seeded group stage and then a knockout tournament. Wrestlers will receive a $1,000 appearance fee at each event and the highest placed wrestlers in the one-night tournaments will receive prize purses up to $15,000. In addition to prize money, wrestlers will be competing for points. Points are allocated based on tournament finishing places and those points will contribute to league standings.
At the end of the season there will be a championship play-off with a $100,000 prize for the ultimate grand champion.
The rules of the bouts will be the same as the rules used in Grand Sumo and most amateur sumo competitions. During tournaments the group stage matches will be single bouts. But in the elimination stage the matches will be the best of three.
The design of the dohyo (ring) is a current work in progress. Though, Snyder is hoping the dohyo will be raised – like it is in Japan. However, he said, he is prioritizing athlete safety (which is not what we see in Japan). So, we might be able to expect padding around any kind of raised surface.
Snyder said the locations for the SCL tour are also a work in progress. He did say that he was targeting small arenas to start, with the potential to house 4,000 to 7,000 audience members. Though, he hoped they could scale up to larger arenas in the future.
Snyder also guaranteed that SCL will be broadcast in one form or another. He said he is exploring a range of broadcast options, including pay-per-view, subscription models, and potential licensing agreements with streaming platforms.
When asked why he thought SCL had a chance to make a mark on the US sporting scene, Snyder said the he felt sumo offered something that other combat sports can’t.
“I think sumo is an amazing and wonderful combat sport,” he said. “The action is quick and fast paced and matches can be anywhere between ten seconds to several minutes, but what I think makes us unique in terms of other combat sports is that we are extremely family friendly.
It’s not only that a pure combat sports fan can come and enjoy competition, but it’s something that a dad can bring his kids to
Stuart Snyder, Sumo Championship League
“It’s not only that a pure combat sports fan can come and enjoy competition, but it’s something that a dad can bring his kids to and it’s a sport that is not offensive and you can really understand that when you see it. The athletes show honour and treat each other with tremendous respect. I think that’s a wonderful lesson for a whole family to be exposed to.”
Snyder added that sumo was also perfect for social media, with matches the ideal length to snag attention as an Instagram or TikTok video reel. He also vowed that, as more people get exposed to sumo, more people will start regularly paying attention to the sport.
With Grand Sumo tournaments taking place at 3 a.m. ET and not broadcast in English until 24-hours later, he’s hoping that new found attention lands on SCL, a product designed to be easy to watch and follow for fans on this side of the Pacific.
To learn more about Sumo Championship League you can visit their official website here.
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