Overview:

The booming popularity of the Indian Premier League is evident from the fact that the final match of IPL 2023 between CSK and GT gathered a peak viewership of about 100 million worldwide, while Star Sports alone was able to accumulate a total viewership of a whopping 505 million during the entire IPL 2023 season.

The facts and figures stated above are an explicit testament to how the IPL has evolved into a money-making machine not just for the players involved in the league but also for the BCCI which earns a ginormous ₹9200 Crore during a single IPL season just by selling broadcasting rights.

However, the league was hardly an iota of what it has become today when it began in 2008. The initial broadcasting rights for the league were sold to Sony Pictures Network for a ten-year period at just ₹820 Crore per season, sure that is no measly amount but when you compare it with the mammoth fees that the BCCI charges from the broadcasters today- almost ₹124 Crore for a single IPL match, you will get an idea of the magnitude and stature that the IPL has scaled to throughout its existence.

Competitors:

IPL stands today as the second biggest sporting event in the world in terms of broadcasting fees, only behind the NFL- the popular American football league that gathers an unbeatable ₹1 Lakh Crore per season by selling broadcasting rights.

It might take some time to get anywhere near where the NFL stands today, but the way IPL is scaling and getting traction in other parts of the world the aspiration to get there is not far-fetched.

 

Scaling the League:

With new teams coming in and the brand value of the big teams skyrocketing- thanks to their big star players and the viral social media marketing being done on a massive scale, the IPL is on a continual quest to increase its footprints and get across borders. Its burgeoning popularity in the Middle-Eastern countries is evident from the sponsorships of big players in the Gulf oil market like Aramco, who are currently the presenters of the prestigious Orange(awarded to the player with the highest number of runs) and Purple caps(awarded to the player with the most wickets) in the league.

IPL has also given impetus to the Indian economy with many people earning big bucks during the IPL season, yes it is a seasonal spike in the economy but to have a domestic league of international stature that has created an ecosystem around it, valued at roughly ₹1 Lakh Crore does have its perks.

From ₹820 Crore to ₹9200 Crore, this is how  IPL become the second biggest sporting event in the world.