Saudi Arabia Expresses Interest For $30 Billion Investment in IPL: Report (Image:Instagram/IPL)
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expressed an interest for a significant investment worth $5 Billion in the Indian Premier League (IPL), reported the Bloomberg. IPL is the most-popular and richest cricket league in the world and is held annually by India’s national cricket body with ten city-based franchise teams. The current decision of Saudi can be viewed as the continuation of a string of investments which Saudi did on professional sports like football and golf in recent times.
It is said that the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s advisors had already held a talk with the concerned Indian authorities about shifting the IPL into a holding company valued up to $30 billion, on which Saudi will take an important stake. The discussion on the matter was reportedly held when Saudi’s de facto ruler visited India in September.
The IPL is a men’s Twenty20 cricket league held annually in India. The league was founded in 2007 by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the national governing body of cricket in India. According to the BCCI, the brand value of the league in 2022 was ₹90,038 crore (US$11 billion).
The Kingdom proposed investing as much as $5 billion into the league while helping the event an expansion into other countries, similar to the English Premier League or the European Champions League. The custodian of IPL, BCCI, has not made any response or official confirmation on the matter. Being the richest league in the world, IPL always attracts top players and coaches around the globe to Indian soil with attractive investments and business.
If the Saudi government go on with their interest of investment in IPL, the Indian government and the BCCI are likely to take a call on the proposal after the next year’s federal elections, reported the Economic Times. The BCCI is currently headed by former Indian international cricketer Roger Michael Humphrey Binny and Jay Shah, son of India’s Home Minister Amit Shah is the incumbent secretary.
IPL already has a huge bunch of sponsors including Aramco and the Saudi tourism authority. The league surfaced $6.2 billion in the last year for the rights to telecast – approximately $15.1 million per match. The count is more than the English Premier League and stands just behind the US’ National Football League.
