Major League Polo (“MLP”) announces a watershed moment in the sport with its MLP SuperDraft Live Stream Event on July 4, 2020. Polo players from around the world will participate in a 3-day live streaming event hosted from Atlanta, GA. Of the top 400 players deemed eligible, 128 will be advancing from the U.S., U.K. and Argentina minor leagues into Major League Polo to play professionally on 16 U.S. City-based teams. The MLP SuperDraft Live Stream Event is the first ever chronicled draft event for polo athletes in the pro sport of Major League Polo. On its final broadcast day of the 3-day event, MLP will live stream the sport’s inaugural Collegiate Polo Draft as its grand draft finale, a first-time event for 39 U.S. colleges and universities currently fielding collegiate polo teams.
The salary brackets for each Draft Round are as follows: Round 1 – All-Stars/Team Captains – $1,000,000; Round 2 – $500,000, Round 3 – $200,000, Round 4 – $150,000, Round 5 – $100,000, Round 6 – $80,000 guaranteed salary minimums. Salary Brackets for the MLP SuperDraft are part of a Polo Player Equality Initiative started by Kimberly Casey Carr, President & CEO, who founded the original World Series of Polo in 2000 before it later evolved into Major League Polo. “The MLP SuperDraft allows male, female and non-binary players to be drafted into Major League Polo with the same pay opportunities as male players based on skill level and the strategies of the team coaches in their Draft Round picks regardless of gender.” Ms. Carr pointed out that, “Polo is one of the few sports wherein the athlete’s abilities are measured with a handicap (goal) performance rating which allows them to compete fairly amongst other athletes on the field based entirely on their proficiency skill level.” “This also means,” she added, “that if a female or non-binary athlete is drafted in Round 1 as a Team Captain in the MLP SuperDraft, they have the capability to out earn every pro footballer or WNBA athlete in the world, a significant milestone in pro sports for non-male team athletes.”
Ninety-six (96) matches among its NPC and APC play-off brackets are slated to begin January, 2021 and run over a 12-week period, with 16 Live Broadcasts, 2 Semi-Finals and 1 MLP-World Series of Polo (MLP World Cup). Depending on the state of COVID-19 in the U.S. at the beginning of their season, like Wimbledon, Major League Polo will be using foresight in planning its broadcast events by investing heavily in vital pandemic event insurances to ensure player salaries and winnings as well as investing in expert sports data analysis and new technologies to broadcast their 96 bracket matches virtually to their fans.
The MLP SuperDraft can be viewed by subscriber fans on the official MLP website where they will be able to interact with their favorite polo players. The broadcast format will allow celebrity polo fans to pop in throughout the draft process as guest hosts and live commentators. According to both Alltech’s Steve Elliot and the U.S. Horse Council’s data, the annual economic impact of the equine and polo industry is significant: approximately $300 Billion dollars and 16 million full-time jobs – $102 Billion dollars of which is generated in the U.S. alone. With over 9.2 million horses among its 328 million U.S. citizens, the MLP is expecting to continue growing its interactivity with horse owners steadily since approximately 1 out of 35 people either own or ride a horse yearly in the U.S. The July 4th MLP SuperDraft Live Stream Event will not only enable fan subscribers to connect with their favorite polo players in virtual chats but will feature special interactive merchandise giveaways and rewards for polo fans with and without horses. A side stream polo pony auction will be hosted simultaneously.
MLP’s top 400 eligible players for the MLP SuperDraft are available for viewing on the MLP World Series of Polo website. All players must register officially online to participate in the SuperDraft by or before June 22, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. ET. For event or team sponsorship, licensing, or ownership opportunities, please contact info@worldseriesofpolo.com. For MLP SuperDraft Rules and MLP SuperDraft player registration, please visit: www.worldseriesofpolo.com/mlp-superdraft and www.worldseriesofpolo.com/mlp-schedule for a list of the 16 MLP teams.
Major League Polo
MLP – World Series of Polo
5 Concourse Parkway
Atlanta, GA 30328
Tel. 561-266-4336
Contact: Kimberly Casey Carr
with media inquiries via email at:
kcc@worldseriesofpolo.com
Major League Polo is the first sports league in polo to draft pro and collegiate players into its National and American Polo Conferences for U.S. City-based bracketed Championship Play-offs. Currently there are 16 U.S. City-based licensable teams in the MLP SuperDraft. Kimberly Casey Carr, Founder, President & CEO of Major League Polo, owns and manages licenses, merchandising and television rights for the 2021 MLP World Series of Polo. She also serves as Creative Director for the organization’s Global Apparel Licensing Division. The polo league, originally founded as the World Series of Polo, has a contractual agreement with Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. that allows Major League Polo significant multi-million dollar licensing opportunities by authorizing the word “polo” in usage with their team logos on all their pro polo sports kits. Major League Polo is also represented formally by Octagon Sports, the world’s largest sports and entertainment agency.
This release was published on openPR.