According to KPS Gill, President, IHF, ?Domestic hockey league is a result of a lot of deliberations and discussion over the last two years. The final form of the tournament, which has emerged is a truly sleek, unique league to be played in a world-class format with a promise of attracting blue chip companies, ticket sales, viewer-ship and players alike.?

K. Jothi Kumaran, Honorary General Secretary, IHF, when contacted, also expressed similar positive feeling. ?We at IHF are all excited about this innovative mega event, Our special thanks to LSM who toiled for two years and brought in leading sports network ESPN STAR Sports to join hand in this dream project."

R C Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd. said, ?We are proud to be associated with India?s national game. ESPN STAR Sports has played a pivotal role in developing the overall popularity of sports in the country. We have exposed millions of viewers in India to a variety of sports and have definitely played a role of an important catalyst in popularizing the great game of cricket. We will now work towards creating an exciting hockey property, using international television production standards, that will attract and hold viewer appeal.?

According to SS Dasgupta, Chairman & Managing Director, LSM, ?This is a well thought of strategic initiative conceptualized after a lot of research and hard work. LSM with its in-depth knowledge and involvement with the Indian hockey is very confident that the proposed tournament will be a grand success. We are committed to offer an international quality experience at all the venues.?

The league will have two tiers having five teams each in the first year. Tier I will be called the Premier Division and Tier II will be called the Second Division. The leagues will follow round robin format with all teams playing each other twice. The winner would be decided on the basis of total points.

The winner of the Tier I will take home Rs. 30 lakh while the runners up will carry Rs 10 lakh. The winner of Tier II will get Rs 4 lakh while the runner up will receive Rs 2.5 lakh. Allocation of above prizes between players and the respective associations shall be specified by IHF.

Many innovations have been introduced to make the league a viewing spectacle. For instance, each game will have four quarters of 17 minutes and 30 seconds each instead of standard two halves. Concepts of time-outs have also been introduced in order to liven up the game. The winner within the stipulated time will get 3 points for each victory while the team winning in the extra time will share the points 2:1.

All Tier I matches will be played on Fridays and Saturdays. In the inaugural year, the premier division matches would be played in the floodlit stadiums across India including Hyderabad. Tier I teams will have an option of bringing in a maximum of five foreign players.

All second division matches would be played at various locations across India. The top most team from Tier II will qualify to Tier I while the team finishing at the bottom in the Tier I will be relegated to Tier II.

Every team will have unique name and identity. Teams will be chosen by IHF on the merit for the inaugural edition and will function under the aegis of the State Bodies affiliated to IHF. Each affiliated unit will manage, regulate and select teams under their jurisdiction.