Diageo can sell RCB franchise for $2 billion. This price is based on the increasing value of IPL media rights in future. However, after Kohli’s retirement, there are challenges like lack of craze for the team and uncertainty of the stadium.
Bengaluru: It is reported that Diageo company is asking for 2 billion US dollars (about Rs 17,600 crore) to sell the RCB franchise. In such a situation, it is natural to raise the question whether it would be beneficial to buy a franchise by paying such a huge amount? Although owning an IPL team is more a matter of prestige than profit, the price of buying a team can be determined by how much money will be earned from the sale of IPL media rights in the coming days.
Huge increase in the value of media rights
According to an estimate, with the coming together of Jio-Star, the value of media rights will increase significantly. Recently Jio-Cinema had claimed that the number of its subscribers has crossed 50 crores. According to this, if a fee of Rs 100 is kept every month for watching IPL, then around Rs 5000 crore can be earned in a month.
The number of IPL matches is expected to increase to 96, due to which the tournament can run from March to June, i.e. about 4 months. This can increase the income even further. Therefore, it is being estimated that when the media rights will be sold for 5 years in 2027, the deal will be much bigger than the current amount. BCCI will distribute 50% of the total earnings from media rights equally among all the 10 teams. For this reason, the amount of $2 billion being demanded by the owners of RCB is being justified.
Big challenge for team buyers
Some people argue that the craze for RCB was there for so many years because the team did not win the cup. Now that the team has won the cup and Virat Kohli is also nearing retirement, it is possible that this craze will reduce. Apart from this, after the stampede incident at Chinnaswamy Stadium, there is no clear information about the team getting a stadium in Bengaluru. If Diageo sells the RCB team, then all these things can also be considered.