“Players don’t need our approval to receive their match fees anymore. For us players getting match fees on time is the priority. It will be a kind of blanket payment and an easy process will be followed,” the BCCI secretary Jay Shah told The Indian Express. (File)
On the eve of the e-auction for Indian Premier League’s (IPL) five-year media rights, the Indian cricket board is bullish: currently at No. 4 behind National Football League (NFL), English Premier League (EPL), and Major League Baseball (MLB), in terms of “per match broadcasting fees” the board expects IPL to jump to the second spot.
Unperturbed by the late withdrawal of e-commerce giant Amazon from the high-profile race that still has old-hand sports broadcasters Disney Star, Sony, Zee, along with the new entrant Viacom-Reliance, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah said that even if the rights go at base price, the valuation of cricket’s biggest tournament would have taken a giant leap.
“At present, an National Football League game costs a broadcaster about $17 million, which is the highest for any sports league. That’s followed by English Premier League, at $11 million and the Major League Baseball figure, too, is roughly the same. In the last five-year cycle, we got $9 million from one IPL game. This time, going by the present minimum base price that we have set, BCCI will get paid $12 million per IPL match. That’s a giant leap for Indian cricket on the world stage. We will be just behind NFL,” Shah told The Indian Express quoting a BCCI study on global sports leagues.
The IPL 2022 final was held at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi stadium. (Twitter/IndianPremierLeague)
For the BCCI, this will be the second successive broadcasting windfall from their five-year cycles. Back in 2017, the overall IPL rights went to Star India for around $3 billion, an unheard amount for a cricket deal back then.
With IPL now a 10-team tournament and the duration of the league expected to be further stretched, the 2023-27 media rights deal is expected to break new ground.
An early indicator of Brand IPL growing despite the pandemic lull was the sale of two new teams earlier this year: BCCI earned a total of $1.7 billion, with the Lucknow franchise going for 250 per cent more than the base price.
According to Shah, the BCCI opted for an e-auction for “better price discovery”. By this process, the bidders will be following the auction online, with each bid displayed on their screens simultaneously. Only after a winner is decided, will the name of the bidder be revealed. “This also keeps the process transparent,” said Shah.
The media rights this time are divided into four categories: Package A: Indian subcontinent television; Package B: Digital space; Package C: Special bouquet of important matches; Package D: Overseas rights.
The special bouquet that includes weekend games, playoffs and final, is expected to undermine the exclusivity of Package A and B. Shah said this was done so that IPL has more broadcasting partners.
“If we had done this conventionally, we would have only a limited number of participants. We introduced Package C because we wanted many players to participate in the tendering process. This helps cricket grow, we need to expand the game and this will help. If more players are in the fray, it will be good for the game,” he said. Citing NFL’s example he said, “They have seven broadcasting partners, we are looking at just three or four.”
With Reliance’s Voot, Disney’s Hotstar, along with Zee and Sony’s OTT platforms, already involved in an intense battle to win eyeballs, this time around the digital rights amount may even outdo television bid.
Shah is aware of it. “By 2024, India will have 900 million internet users. That’s the reason digital rights become very important for the growth of cricket,” he said.
Since IPL isn’t a year-long affair, the total broadcast contract value of the league is far less than the other premier sports leagues. NFL with $43 billion and NBA with $23 billion are head and shoulders above the rest.
“We are committed to the ICC FTP (Future Tours Programme). The Indian cricket team is our primary responsibility. By playing away games, other cricketing nations earn revenue. We have a responsibility to let the game grow around the world,” Shah said.
Sandeep Dwivedi is the Sports Editor at The Indian Express. He is one of India's most prominent sports journalists, known for his deep analytical insights and storytelling that often goes beyond scores and statistics to explore the human and cultural side of sports.
Professional Profile
Role: As the Sports Editor, he leads the sports coverage for the newspaper and the website.
Weekly Column: He writes "The Sports Column," a weekly feature where he provides sharp, narrative-driven perspectives on the biggest sporting news of the week.
Podcast: He is a frequent contributor to the "Express Sports" podcast (Game Time), where he discusses evolving trends in cricket and other international sports.
Areas of Expertise
While Dwivedi covers the entire sporting spectrum, his work is particularly noted in the following areas:
Cricket: He provides extensive coverage of the Indian National Team and the IPL. He frequently analyzes the leadership styles of figures like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Gautam Gambhir. He is known for tracking the transition phases of Indian cricket and the evolution of specific players like Kuldeep Yadav and Rishabh Pant.
Athletics & Olympic Sports: He has written extensively on Neeraj Chopra’s rise in javelin, the nuances of Indian shooting, and tennis legends like Sania Mirza and Leander Paes.
Human Interest Stories: A hallmark of his writing is his focus on the struggles and backgrounds of athletes, such as the sacrifices made by Shafali Verma’s father or the "silent battles" of veteran players like Cheteshwar Pujara.
Notable Recent Work & Themes
Leadership and Dynamics: Recently, he has written about the dynamic between Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma, arguing that personal friendship is not a prerequisite for team success.
Sports & Culture: His articles often intersect with global culture, such as his deep dive into the 100-year legacy of the Harlem Globetrotters and their role as American soft power during the Cold War.
The "Grey Areas" of Sport: He often addresses sensitive topics like the mental health of cricketers post-retirement, the "outrage industry" in sports broadcasting, and the impact of fan-wars on the game.
Tenure and Experience
Dwivedi has been with The Indian Express for over three decades. This experience allows him to provide historical context to modern sporting events, often comparing current crises or triumphs to those of previous generations.
You can follow his latest work and columns on his official Indian Express Author Profile. ... Read More
The IPL 2022 final was held at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi stadium. (Twitter/IndianPremierLeague)