Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is no longer just a cricket tournament that unleashes prime talents that make the cricket-frenzied world come closer than ever toward sublime contests.
The series is a primer of sorts in terms of understanding how a mega or big budget business idea or corporate entity is run.
There's enjoyment in there. Ditto for oodles of fun. And then, of course, big bucks or mega bucks as they say where it comes to organisation of cricket matches and the earning one generates through them.
So let us understand the different measures through which IPL actually makes its living:
Ways in which IPL makes its money
Creation of the central revenue pool
One of the first major steps to understand how an IPL team makes its money is by virtue of the central revenue pool. Over here, the main source of IPL income actually comes from this pool of central revenue that is managed by the revered BCCI of India. This consists, primarily, of the revenue that comes from the major broadcasters that show the live IPL games and the title sponsorships.
Companies bid in billions of dollars worth of money to secure their exclusive sponsorship rights to broadcast the IPL.
And that is a prime earner of revenue for the tournament.
Team Sponsorships and Branding
Branding and marketing are both equally important and inseparable where it comes to the format that is the IPL and its structure. The different franchise basically sing up deals with different sponsors, these include- the main or primary team jersey sponsors. Then there are digital partners along with official suppliers to a particular IPL team. Usually, what has been seen is that the higher the success ratio of an IPL franchise, the greater its value of deals. At the end of the day, big monies are splurged by sponsors to secure greater visibility for their respective brands.
Merchandising
The team wear is such a hot item at the end of the day. Die-hard fans go for things such as the handkerchiefs as well, besides the official team caps and of course, the main jersey. Imagine how many RCB jerseys would’ve been sold this time around and ditto for Punjab Kings?
The prize money
At the end of the day, what matters a great deal to the IPL earning is the overall prize money that is earned by teams that perform exceptionally well. The team winning in the end gets to divide the money among their players and the staff and the support staff. Besides, teams reaching in the eventual stages, such as the playoffs also tend to earn a handsome amount of money.
Money earned from ticket sales
Can there be an IPL game without spectators. Can never happen. Never. In similar vein, can there be a single spectator inside stadia around the country where IPL games are held without ticket sales? At the end of the day, the ticket sales and the different price bands for the same adds to a lot of earning for the mega successful franchise-based tournament. In cricket-mad cities such as Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, forget not MS Dhoni’s Chennai, fans rush everyday to ensure that a hot seller is the norm of the day during the course of the IPL.
Also, there are earnings from box office sales, and the added paraphernalia through sales of water, colas, other liquids comprising soft drinks and snacks and similar eatables. That too, adds to a considerable amount of earnings for the series.
Sales from equity and valuation of franchises
The more an IPL franchise gains its popularity and in due course, the value, the more the chances of its respective owners where it comes to raising funds by way of selling minority stakes or entering strategic partnerships. This effective measure leads to more income generation and revenue earning.
