Domestic broadcast rights to India’s top cricket league reportedly sell for $5 billion, value per game second only to NFL

By Jessie N. Wilson On May 11, 2023

Topline

Domestic broadcast rights for the next five-year cycle of the Indian Premier League – the country’s biggest sporting event – have reportedly sold for $5 billion following a two-day online auction, in part of an agreement that makes the IPL one of the most valuable. sports entities in the world.

The domestic broadcast rights to the IPL were reportedly sold for a combined value of $5 billion.

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Highlights

According to ESPNCricinfo, the TV rights for each game for the next round are $7.37 million (57.5 crore rupees) per game, while the digital broadcast rights were sold for 48 crore rupees (6. $15 million) per game.

The digital rights are said to have been picked up by Viacom18, a joint venture between Paramount and TV18, owned by Mukesh Ambani, although the league has yet to officially announce this.

Forbes contacted the league and Viacom18 for confirmation.

The IPL deal will still come in a distant second to the NFL, which is expected to average $36 million per game after its 11-year (2022-2033) deal worth an estimated $113 billion, signed l ‘last year.

The overall value of the broadcast package may increase further as league organizers have yet to auction two more packages, one of which includes additional digital rights for a set of around 18 marquee matches – including the playoffs and finals – and a second package which covers TV and digital rights for broadcast outside the Indian subcontinent.

Key Context

The combined worldwide rights for the previous five-year cycle (2018-2022) of the Indian Premier League were sold for Rs 16,347.5 crores (about $2.55 billion in 2017). At that time, the rights were purchased by Fox-owned Star, which then became part of Disney as part of its acquisition of Fox’s core properties. For the past few years, Disney had touted the IPL as one of the flagship properties of its Disney+ streaming service in the subcontinent. Disney/Star, Sony, Zee Networks and Viacom participated in the bidding process, with Amazon pulling out last week after showing initial interest.

Tangent

Earlier this year, Forbes reported that the values of the 10 urban franchises in the IPL are growing at a faster rate than even NBA and NFL teams. The report estimated that the current average value of an IPL franchise is $1.04 billion, up from just $67 million when the league launched with eight teams in 2008. The rise in team valuation was partly related to the expected bonanza of ongoing broadcast rights. at auction, as well as an economic model guaranteeing the profitability of the teams.

Large number

$1.3 billion. This is the total value of Mumbai Indians, the most successful and valuable team in the IPL. Forbes previously reported that the Indians, as of April 2022, are worth more than six MLB teams, 27 NHL teams and all MLS teams. Mumbai Indian owner Mukesh Ambani is India’s richest man and the sixth richest in the world with a net worth of $98.9 billion according to Forbes’ real-time tracker. Ambani is also the richest sports team owner in the world.