Although it did not reach the 50 billion mark, it took place in the history of sports, the auction of IPL rights this time. A total of Rs 48,390 crore was sold for the next five years of IPL promotion rights.
Disney Star retains TV rights to Indian subcontinent for which they had to pay 23 thousand 575 crores. However, like last time, they could not retain the digital rights. Digital rights have been taken over by Viacom 18 this time.
Division of rights
They also bought Package ‘B’ (subcontinental digital rights) and Package C (eighteen match digital rights) at the same time. Viacom 18 had to pay Rs 20,500 crore for package ‘B’. In addition to this, in order to retain the entire digital rights in their possession, they had to buy the package ‘C’ with an additional sum of 2991 crore. With the partial ownership of Package D, Viacom 18 will be able to digitally broadcast the IPL in Australia, South Africa and England.
Many feel that this strategy of packages B and C, that has been put up for auction by the Indian board, has been a stellar move. Due to this, even after buying Package B with huge amount of money, Viacom 18 had to jump to buy Package C. Otherwise, digital rights would not have come into their possession in a single way. And, as a result, the price of Package C has gone up. It is alleged that one association had grudge regarding this auction and as a result it withdrew from the process.
Words from Indian cricket board secretary
The board said the day would be a memorable one in the history of Indian cricket. IPL became the second richest sports league in the world in terms of revenue per match. Before this T20 cricket competition in India, there is only American Football League-NFL. Popular football leagues like the English Premier League have also fallen behind.
The financial impact of the Indian board on cricket has been far-reaching. This time it increased even more. As a result, the ICC is going to open a special ‘window’ for the IPL for the next two and a half months. IPL will be given a place in the next ‘Future Tour Program’ for two and a half months. Jay Shah, secretary of the Indian board, told this to PTI in an interview.
According to the rights of this time, in the fifth year, i.e. in 2027, 94 matches will be played in IPL. How is it possible to organize so many matches? Where the foreign teams have their own sports schedules? The Board Secretary replied, “We have discussed this. I am telling you that the IPL will be officially given two and a half months in the next Future Tour program of the ICC. So that foreign cricketers will not have any problem playing in the future. We have talked about this with the ICC and the boards of different countries.”