Days after the BCCI bagged a whopping amount of over Rs 48,000 crore for the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights for the 2023-27 cycle, former IPL chairman Lalit Modi, in an exclusive interview to NDTV, said the IPL will become the No. 1 sports league in the world. The former chairman of the franchise cricket league added that he believes that IPL media rights valuation will double again in the next cycle.
“The viewership is now probably highest in the world in terms of number of people watching and the eye balls getting attracted to the game. I have always maintained, and everybody laughed at me, that IPL is recession proof. It really is coming out to be true. We have got newer and newer fan bases joining in. But we have to be careful going forward. Because the younger age group is mostly on digital, that is why the digital rights have gone up tremendously in price but their experience has not been so good in India today,” Modi told NDTV.
Modi was the first chairman and commissioner of the IPL. He was instrumental in running the league from 2008 till 2010. He was also a vice-president of the BCCI from 2005–10.
“It is the fan base that has done it (increase IPL’s valuation). I have always said that in three or four years it will double. The price of IPL will continue to double. If you look at all my interviews from 2008, I said that IPL value will double in terms of media rights. It has gone up by 98 per cent from the last cycle. From the last cycle to this cycle is 98 per cent and I am telling you going forward in the next cycle, it will double again,” Modi said.
“It will definitely overtake and I have always said IPL will become No. 1 sports league sooner than later. It all depends on the innovation for the OTT platforms through the digital rights.
Modi left India in 2010 amid allegations of tax evasion, money-laundering and proxy ownership and is based in London since the last few years. The Enforcement Directorate alleges he manipulated the process of assigning broadcast rights of the IPL in 2009, reportedly in exchange for a kickback of over 125 crores.
“It (IPL) has really been able to do that (clean-up act). It’s moving up in the right direction with the Gujarat Titans performing tremendously in the first season from scratch. That has shown that there is faith now in the game. There is no fixing any more and that it has taken a new turn,” he added.
At the IPL media rights e-auction Disney Star retained the TV telecast rights with a bid price of Rs 23,575 crore. “I am thrilled to announce that STAR INDIA wins India TV rights with their bid of Rs 23,575 crores. The bid is a direct testimony to the BCCI’s organizational capabilities despite two pandemic years,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote in a tweet.
“Viacom18 bags digital rights with its winning bid of Rs 23,758 cr. India has seen a digital revolution & 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 & the Digital India vision,” Shah confirmed in another tweet.
Reliance’s Viacom18, won the rights for package C with a Rs 3,258 crore winning bid. As a result of this, Viacom, who also won the rights for Package B with a pay out of Rs 20,500 crore (Rs 50 crore per match for 410 matches), ended up paying Rs 23,758 crore for the entire bouquet of digital rights.
Promoted
The Package D, which included rights for the Rest of the world, was won for a bid of Rs 1058 crore.
In the end it was the BCCI that laughed its way to the bank, raking in a total sum of Rs 48,390 crore for the packages A, B, C and D.
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