IPL matches now worth more compared to India's international games

The Indian Premier League media rights have emerged more lucrative than the Indian team’s home matches with Star set to pay Rs 55 crore for an IPL game - Rs 12 crore more than what it currently pays for an international fixture.

Star India on Monday won the global broadcast and digital rights for Rs 16347.5 crore for the next five years, a staggering amount considering the Indian cricket board, which owns the IPL property, is in the middle of an administrative crisis.

The per game numbers for an IPL game amounts to Rs 55 crore and Rs 3270 crore per year. Back in 2012, Star had won broadcast and digital rights of India matches between 2012- 2018 for Rs 3851 crore, a figure broken down to Rs 43 crore per match.

At USD 512 million, the annual media rights of three cricket boards including the BCCI, ECB and Cricket Australia combined is at par with what IPL commands (USD 508 million).

However, the rights for the India matches are up for grabs next year and with the way the cricket is pulling in the money from all quarters, another mind-boggling payout for the BCCI will not be a surprise.

Off-field matters take back seat

“Despite the off-field issues of BCCI, watching a cricket match in India remains an amazing experience,” Star India CEO Uday Shankar said after securing a successful IPL bid.

The amount may seem astronomical but Shankar said that the figures reflect market value.

“This is the right figure. You have seen that in every category it has been so competitive, so that there are three digital rights which have gone for over Rs 3,000 crore. Digital did not exist 10 years ago,” Shankar said.

“In television, you have seen it was aggressively tendered to. This tells you that cricket continues to be very strong, very healthy and very attractive in this country,” added Shankar.

IPL, after 10 years of existence, towers over other cricketing properties of the world.

The IPL will get USD 508 million per year as part of the media rights deal, making it a no-comparison with Australia’s Big Bash League, which earns USD 20 million per year.