A former Turner Entertainment executive has announced a new professional sumo wrestling league based out of Atlanta. He believes the Japanese sport could take off in North America.
Dubbed the Sumo Championship League, organizers hope to start touring arenas as early as this fall, with monthly events nationwide.
“We are a professional sports league with prize money, win/loss records and year-around standings,” said Stuart Snyder, Sumo Championship League chairman and chief executive officer who moved back to Atlanta from New York City seven months ago.
His goal is to create sumo wrestling “superstars” who could become household names, similar to MMA and pro wrestling. After recruiting worldwide, he said 50 wrestlers have applied to date and 20 have officially joined the league. Snyder said the roster is not finalized and he was not ready to announce any names.
Event dates and locations are still forthcoming, though he said he “can absolutely say Atlanta will be a market we come to during the first year.” If all goes well, he hopes to make it an annual event for the city.
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
The next WWE or UFC?
Sumo is a relatively niche sport compared to related martial arts like judo, jujutsu and Taekwondo.
Credit: COURTESY OF S
Credit: COURTESY OF S
“There are about 85 amateur clubs around the globe,” Snyder said, “with 45 here in the United States. There’s a deep pond of non-Japanese wrestlers.”
The most prominent local sumo club in Atlanta is Black Dragon Beya, led by Army combat veteran Katie Hardeman.
“There have been multiple attempts to monetize sumo in the United States,” Hardeman said, who came away impressed after speaking to Snyder. “The difference here is Stu Snyder has the money and experience. He can build this like the WWE and UFC. This guy has connections. This seems to be a whole different animal.”
Although Atlanta has only a handful of amateur sumo wrestlers, Snyder said it’s a good city for the league’s headquarters.
“Atlanta is a great sports town,” Snyder said. “I’m based here. I think it’s a strong market to build this on.”
Sumo Championship League has secured an initial round of funding to support its launch, with a current valuation of $25 million, according to its initial press release.
“I’ve been looking at sumo the last few years,” Snyder said. “I’ve always been a fan of sumo wrestling and sports in general. Live entertainment is in my blood.”
A native New Yorker, 67-year-old Snyder worked with Ted Turner on home video distribution in the early 1990s at Turner Broadcasting before taking over Feld Entertainment for three years in the late 1990s, overseeing the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Disney On Ice.
Snyder briefly ran the World Wrestling Federation before returning to Turner to run the Cartoon Network from 2007 to 2014, developing popular shows like “Adventure Time” and “Rick and Morty.” In recent years, he produced the spectacle-driven 2024 musical “Water for Elephants” on Broadway and runs Beal’s Lobster Pier restaurant in Southwest Harbor, Maine.
“I enjoy building brands, building companies,” he said. “I think this is certainly a great nice large swing. The time is right.”
Snyder has seen how sports have thrived from a business standpoint in recent years, and is jumping into an increasingly crowded field. In Atlanta alone, there are new leagues focused on tennis (Intennse), dunking (Dunkman with TNT Sports) and Wiffle ball (Big League Wiffle Ball).
“Live sports are having a moment,” Snyder said. “You’ve seen a sea change with media and sports. It’s the ultimate engagement on so many levels. People need live experiences and shared memories when they otherwise spend so much time sitting at home on screens.”
Sumo wrestling matches, he noted, are fast-paced, with matches taking anywhere from a few seconds to three minutes: “It’s perfect for short-term video on Instagram and TikTok.”
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
‘Balance is key to sumo’
During a recent Black Dragon Beya practice at Atlanta Kick, six grapplers worked on techniques with two coaches. Hardeman rolled out and taped down a temporary dohyo (sumo wrestling ring) in the rented space for two hours and set up video so the wrestlers could study their moves after class.
“Sumo is very honest but very brutal,” said fellow coach Collin Zeigler. “You need to have a good center of gravity.”
“Balance,” Hardeman added, “is key to sumo. We focus on drills and repetition. With only a few seconds, you don’t have time to think. It’s about muscle memory and reaction.”
The sport, which is packed with rituals, began in Japan more than 1,500 years ago to entertain Shinto deities. “Religion and spirituality are intertwined,” Zeigler said. “We try to respect the culture.” For instance, the group’s wrestlers count in Japanese and use proper Japanese terms for different movements.
At the same time, Zeigler added, “Japan loves American baseball and makes it their own. We’re taking their No. 1 sport and Americanizing it to some extent.”
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
While pro sumo in Japan has no weight classes, U.S. amateur sumo does, enabling more people to take part. The recent class at Atlanta Kick featured wrestlers ranging in weight from 225 to 350 pounds.
After warm-up exercises, wrestlers help each other don the mawashi, a thick loincloth wrapped tightly around the waist and between the legs. At 190 pounds, Zeigler is the svelte one in the group. “He has the waist of a geisha,” joked Hardeman.
The grapplers sweat and grunt with raw intensity as the coaches work them through different moves like an inside leg kick to take down an opponent. Hardeman provides a steady flow of encouragement and advice. “Keep it flowing!” “Name of the game is arm control!” “Focus on moving your hits!” “Don’t anticipate it!”
“It’s more physical than people think,” Zeigler said near the end of practice as several wrestlers took breaks to hydrate and rest sore limbs.
The coaches volunteer “for the love of the game,” Zeigler said. The $10 per class fees only cover rent. (Hardeman also helped seed affiliate clubs in Peachtree City and South Carolina with about 30 participants in total.)
Black Dragon Beya holds demonstrations at JapanFest at Gas South Convention Center in Duluth and hosts tournaments. “It’s really grassroots,” Zeigler said. “We want the sport to grow and increase the skill levels of our participants.”
Many of the wrestlers played sports in college and were seeking ways to get active again as adults. Taylor Fordham, a 35-year-old mechanical engineer who lives in Druid Hills, said he discovered sumo last year. “So far,” he said, “it’s given me an outlet to get out of my head. It’s meditative. I feel more fulfilled. I’m generally happier. I count down to the days we have practice.”
Jabari Webb, a 26-year-old behavioral technician who played soccer and football when he was younger, has been driving an hour each week from Villa Rica to practice since February after finding Black Dragon’s Instagram page.
“I’m definitely getting a feel for it,” Webb said. “I still need to get more balanced. I get tired. I need to be more aggressive”
So far, he added, “It’s worth the drive. I have fun. It’s like a family.”
Credit: COURTESY OF SUMO
Credit: COURTESY OF SUMO
Other efforts to grow sumo
Snyder isn’t the only entrepreneur seeking sumo riches. The International Sumo League launched in 2024 out of Scarsdale, New York and held an event in Westchester, New York earlier this year.
Last year, Sumo+Sushi came to Shadowbox Studios in Atlanta, which normally hosts TV and film productions, for a blend of sumo exhibitions and fine dining. The event did well enough that it’s returning this October.
U.S. Sumo, a Santa Monica-based company that produces Sumo+Sushi, has also hosted the annual U.S. Sumo Open in Long Beach, California, every spring since 2001. The latest event in April drew 4,500 spectators, according to the organization.
“That speaks volumes in terms of interest,” Snyder said. “It’s something different. It’s family-friendly. It’s competitive. And people can enjoy, honor and respect the traditions of 1,500 years of sumo. I just want to take that and harness it and package it. It’s a compelling live event that can lead to greater media opportunities.”
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
Credit: Estela Muñoz/AJC
Basics of sumo
You have to either force your opponent out of the 15-foot diameter dohyo or make the person touch the ground with any part of the body other than the soles of the feet.
Punching, gouging, and kicking are prohibited, but slapping and tripping are allowed. It is legal to grab the sumo belt (mawashi) anywhere around the waist, but not in the groin area. Hair-pulling and choking are also banned.
You can push, thrust, throw and even lift your opponent if need be.
Source: USA Sumo
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