BCCI will hit a jackpot in the IPL media rights auctions , Amazon and Reliance industries to compete

Among the potential bidders preparing for the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights auction are Star & Disney India, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), Viacom18 controlled by Reliance Industries, and Amazon. While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is finalising the tender document, which is expected to be released shortly, for the auction of its biggest cash cow, sports marketing experts and some of the potential bidders estimate the value of the rights will likely be more than three times what it was the last time. Experts told that the combined value of the rights for the next five-year cycle will be close to Rs 50,000 crore, up from the current rights holder’s bid of Rs 16,347.5 crore for 2018-2022. The auction is expected to take place in April or May.

A senior executive at a consulting firm predicted the value of the rights would exceed anyone’s expectations. Based on the profit and loss statement, the value won’t exceed Rs 30-32,000 crore, but it’s the strategic value that each player will attribute to the property based on their business that determines the overall value.”

He didn’t want to be named since he is advising one of the potential bidders, but he says most people viewed Star India’s winning bid in 2017 as extravagant.

“It’s debatable whether Star & Disney India recovered or made money from their bid, but they built Hotstar on top of the property,” he said. “For any potential bidder, the value of the rights will be in the new or incremental subscribers Disney+Hotstar is the company’s streaming platform.”
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly predicted that the rights value would reach Rs 40,000 crore last year. Experts predict that number will be exceeded.

The managing director of sports marketing firm Baseline Ventures, Tuhin Mishra, said the winning bidder will have to “break the bank” to get the rights.