The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has become Rs 48,390 crore richer after the three-day media rights auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL), the board’s cash cow.
For the 2023-2027 media rights cycle, BCCI received a premium of close to 3x from the 2018-2022 cycle, when the cricket board earned Rs 16,347 crore from TV and digital rights.
At the recently concluded auction, the value of TV rights more than doubled from Rs 11,410 crore in the earlier media rights cycle to Rs 23,575 crore and digital rights rose from Rs 4,040 crore to Rs 20,500 crore.
In the 2023-2027 media rights cycle, BCCI included an additional package for non-exclusive digital rights to 18 matches for which the board earned Rs 3,258 crore.
"India has seen a digital revolution and the sector has endless potential. The digital landscape has changed the way cricket is watched. It has been a big factor in the growth of the game and the digital India vision," Jay Shah, Secretary of the BCCI, tweeted,
The consolidated value of digital rights for the upcoming media rights cycle stands at Rs 23,758 crore.
‘Red-letter day’
"Since its inception, the IPL has been synonymous with growth and today is a red-letter day for India cricket, with brand IPL touching a new high with e-auction resulting in Rs 48,390 crore value. IPL is now the 2nd most valued sporting league in the world in terms of per match value," Shah wrote in his tweet.
BCCI, which will get revenue from media rights on an annual basis, plans to use it to strengthen the domestic cricket structure in India starting from the grassroots to boost infrastructure and spruce up facilities across India and enrich the overall cricket-watching experience.
“What we have achieved with IPL media rights will go a long way in promoting a purely “Made in India” sports property on the global stage,” BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal said.
“This is our first step towards what we at the BCCI have aimed to achieve in making India a sporting giant and expanding IPL’s base globally and making it the biggest sporting league in the world.”
Just after the auction of TV and digital rights, Abneesh Roy of Edelweiss said, "As of now, the board has earned a staggering Rs 460 billion (46,000 crore), which is already two-and-a-half times more than the 2018 auction value of Rs 163 billion (16,300 crore). Thus cumulatively, the BCCI is now richer by Rs 441 billion (44,100 crore), making it one of the richest entities in the sporting world, after selling the two packages."
Unprecedented bonanza
If we look at BCCI's earnings, more than half of it came from IPL in financial year 2018-2019 when the board earned Rs 4,017 crore, out of which income from IPL was Rs 2,407 crore, according to an IANS report.
BCCI treasurer Dhumal in 2020 said the board earned Rs 4,000 crore as revenue from hosting the 13th edition of the League.
"IPL has been an unprecedented bonanza for BCCI. IPL now outscores India media rights and ICC rights for BCCI by far," said Sandeep Goyal, managing director of Rediffusion, an ad agency.
ICC is short for the International Cricket Council.
Vaulting over EPL
Considered the wealthiest cricket board, BCCI's net worth has increased over the years, from Rs 5,438.61 crore in 2015-2015 to Rs 14,489 crore in 2018-2019, according to the report cited above.
Now, with the high premium the board has received for IPL's media rights, it has surpassed the revenue of the English Premier League (EPL).
Just before the media rights auction, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said at an event: "The IPL generates more revenue than the English Premier League."
While the cost of per EPL match is $11 million, every IPL game costs $16 million. EPL is considered the most viewed football tournament and contested by 20 clubs.
Along with EPL, IPL is ahead of the National Hockey League (NHL's cost of rights per game is $3 million), Major League Baseball (MLB's per game rights cost $11 million), Ligue 1 (the French football league's per match cost of rights is $12 million), and Bundesliga (the football league's cost of rights per match is $15 million), said an Elara Securities report.
And now, a women’s league
"Cost of rights has now breached global leagues like EPL by a big margin, which shows the compelling nature of IPL content," said Karan Taurani, senior vice-president at Elara Capital.
In addition, BCCI is expanding the league to women's IPL which will begin next year with 5-6 teams.
"This is a project which is very close to my heart. We will start with either five or six teams in the first edition. I am thrilled at the kind of response we have got from stakeholders. Multiple existing IPL teams have enquired and expressed serious interest in owning WIPL franchises," BCCI's Shah told news agency PTI recently.
He added that BCCI was in talks with other boards about a possible window when all top cricketers will be available.
"I can promise that the valuation of the league, franchises, and media rights will stun one and all," he said.
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