The IPL business, how the largest sporting league earn money

Business/Sports Desk: Women’s cricket is gaining popularity across the cricketing community. The most popular cricketing league and one of the top sporting leagues in the globe IPL (Indian Premier League) is unveiling its woman’s version of the tournament from Saturday.

The T20 cricket league which began in 2008 is toady considered as the second most popular sporting league after NFL in US in terms of revenue and on stadium crowd. In the recent years, it is said that IPL has even surpassed the English Premier League and the NBA.

But what exactly are the ways it earns revenue?

Media rights – selling telecasting rights to media brands is one of the biggest sources of revenue for the tournament. Given its popularity, media companies wish to buy its rights even if they have to spend a huge amount. Star India had splurged over INR 16,000 crore to have the telecasting rights from 2018 to 2022. Meanwhile, Star, Viacom 18, and Times have bagged the telecasting rights form this season till 2027 for over 48,000 crore INR. At the same time, with the growth of digital streaming, the online rights is sold differently.

Advertisements and sponsorships are another major source of revenue. Most of this advertisement revenue comes from on-field advertisement placements. Different locations within the ground have different prices, based on its visibility on television. Not just the IPL management, even the broadcasters earn a lot by selling ad spaces to advertisers. In 2022, the official broadcasters earned around INR 3500 crore through selling ad times on television.

Similarly, as usual IPL earn its revenue from its fans. Money that comes from selling tickets to spectators is one of the most important sources of profit. Although, the money earned is divided between different stakeholders like, franchises and stadium owners.

Another key source of revenue for IPS is franchise money. When they sell a new team, the money earned through franchise auctions is huge. Likewise, earning through auctioning players is another medium of profit.

In addition to the above, there are multiple sources of revenue for IPL. Usually, the net profit is used for the development of the sport in India. A part of it is also distributed to the state cricket boards and other social causes.

Due to the emerging popularity of women’s’ cricket, through international events and domestic tournaments in countries like Australia, the women’s IPL is also being launched this year wit a view that it can be another profitable segment in the market.

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