How Expensive Are the IPL Rights in Comparison?

Increased competition among media platforms in India could be causing new record proceeds from the auctioning of the broadcasting rights of the Indian Premier League. The cricket league is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, a local joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Star India, which also puts the matches on TV.

For the next broadcasting rights auction to be finalized in April or May, Amazon Prime could also be a contender. The service is reportedly in talks with Sony India to partner on a bid as Amazon currently has no TV outlet in the country. Sony had held cricket rights from 2008-2017 before losing out to Disney and Star. Finally, Reliance-owned TV and streaming outlets are also eager to snatch up the rights, which could drive their price up to $6.7 billion for the upcoming five years, according to Reuters. This would be three times the price paid at the previous auction.

Even at the current price, the second-biggest sport in the world is already a contender among the world's priciest sports league rights – at least if you calculate by match. According to a 2020 Duff & Phelps comparison, the IPL broadcasting rights fee by match was slightly below that of the U.S. Major League Baseball and the English Premier League, but above the German Bundesliga. This is also due to the fact that the IPL only has ten teams, compared to the MLB’s 30, the Premier League’s 20 and the Bundesliga’s 18.

Despite its 32 teams and whopping 256 games, the U.S. National Football league was still the most expensive to broadcast in 2020 at $17.4 million per game. If the broadcasting rights for the IPL were to reach their expected price point, they would exceed the NFL’s per-game fee. At only 74 matches played in the IPL, the NFL would remain the priciest for broadcasting rights overall, however.