The greatest show on Earth

A few hours after the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights for the 2023-27 cycle were sold for a mind-boggling Rs 48,390 crore, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said on social media that the game of cricket had never been about money but about talent.

Maybe, the former India captain was referring to the lines inscribed on the glittering IPL trophy, which translates to ‘where talent meets opportunity’.

Irrespective of whether Ganguly truly meant that or not, the Board has become richer by never-seen-before numbers in the sport.

With every match now worth Rs 107.5 crore – taking TV and digital rights for the Indian subcontinent alone into account – the IPL is second only to America’s National Football League (NFL) in the most valued sporting competitions across the globe.

To make sense of what this means in terms of the stakes involved, one only needs to go through the tweets of industrialist Harsh Goenka, who very succinctly explained the worth of each match, vis-a-vis ball for ball.

Goenka articulated this arithmetic of the IPL media rights in the following manner: There will be 410 matches in all, with 240 balls in each match.

The total broadcasting rights came up to Rs 48,390 cr, while the total balls bowled are 98,400. This brings each ball’s worth to a staggering Rs 50 lakh.

Reports, time and again, suggested that there was a dip in television viewership and ratings during the recently concluded IPL 2022 season.

However, they had little bearing at the e-auction. Disney Star, which had made the winning bid in 2018, shelled out Rs 23,575 crore to retain the TV rights. As a result, Star currently holds the TV rights for the ‘Big Three’ – ICC tournaments, Team India’s home series and the IPL.

Meanwhile, Viacom 18, the new kid on the block, pumped in Rs 20,500 crore to secure the digital rights.

Viacom 18 did not stop there, bagging the special digital bouquet – including select matches – for the Indian subcontinent for Rs 3,258 crore to maintain exclusivity.

While there were doubts over a possible conflict of interest – both Viacom 18 and the Mumbai Indians franchise are owned by Reliance Industries – its spokesperson stressed that they were separate entities.

Having spent big, both the media conglomerates will explore every possible avenue to telecast advertisements, through which they would hope to recoup their investments.

As it is, on most occasions, we do not get to see the bowler’s entire run-up in the first ball of an over. Expect more of the same in the upcoming five-year cycle. Also, do not be surprised if the duration of the strategic timeouts is increased.

Different broadcasters mean a variety of content. While the BCCI is likely to take care of the world feed which will be common for both, the two broadcasters will have their respective studios for regional language coverage, providing plenty of options for viewers. With broadcasters delivering earth-shattering statistics off the field, it is now time for the players to produce the numbers on ground.