Money matters of IPL

Cricket is not the national sport of India, but definitely, it is the most loved. And IPL took this frenzy to another level with whopping amounts of returns. The concept of IPL was brought in by Lalit Modi, inspired by the English Premier League. And after about ten years, it contributes around 60% of revenue to the BCCI in a season spanning just two months. It is compared with the NBC in the USA due to its consistent ratings, unparalleled customer satisfaction and brand imagery.

IPL contributes to a good extent to Indian GDP. IPL is an employment generator, has developed tourism due to the fan base of international players, uplifted tier 2 cities due to media exposure and has brought in development for cricket and sports participation across the country.
But this just describes a single dimension. What about the teams? How do the non-winning teams take in new members or arrange for the accommodation of the team? The primary source of capital generation for IPL teams comes from its media rights. Star India paid a large amount of 163 billion rupees for a five-year contract related to global media rights.

Secondly, the Sponsorship rights. It doesn’t take BCCI a lot of hard work to find sponsors. It has signed a five-year contract with Vivo of about 4.5 billion rupees. There are other sponsors like Jio, BTK, Cred, etc., who are also official partners. The proceeds from the sponsors get collected in a central pool, and then after keeping a portion for BCCI are equally distributed among the teams. Brand sponsorships also form a good chunk of the team’s revenues. They operate through print media as a logo on team jerseys ( caps, sleeves, shirts, pants )or advertising, wherein they can ask any team player to advertise for them.
Revenue generated from ticket sales is another major source of income. In a regular IPL, a team were allowed to have seven matches on home ground, and ticket prices were decided by team franchise. This mode of revenue became questionable due to the covid outbreak. Merchandising is also a potential way to generate money, but it depends on the brand value of the team and its penetration into the audience.
Lastly, the prize money is a massive addition to all this income. Presently it has been pegged at 100 million for the winner, 60 million for runners-up and 40 million for 3rd and 4th placed teams.

According to data, IPL has contributed $11.5 billion to GDP in 2015. In 2014 when 20 matches were played in UAE due to general elections in India, it contributes Dhs275 million boost to the UAE economy. In 2009, South Africa experienced a surge in tourism, hotel and flight bookings because of IPL. BCCI amassed revenue of $50 billion and $37 billion in the years 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Hence as we can see, IPL has become a game-changer for the cricket sport in India. BCCI was considered a charitable organisation, but after IPL, it turned out to be a big player and started investing in the sport and its infrastructure all around India. The business owners owning the teams earn large sums of money. IPL is receiving tremendous response from players all around the world. And that is why IPL is now considered to be one of the world’s most significant leagues and it is raising its bar with every new season.