The Indian Premier League (IPL) continues it's rapid growth as among the most lucrative and profitable sporting leagues in the world globally. As per the latest estimation, the value of the tournament is now a whopping $10.9 billion dollars, easily surpassing the $10 billion criteria for it to qualify as a Decacorn. The same has been claimed in a report carried by the D & P Advisory.
The same report suggests that the valuation of the entire IPL ecosystem has witnessed an increase by 75% since 2020. Apart from being a decacorn, IPL has also become the second largest sporting league globally, which is quite an achievement in itself considering the inaugural season of the competition was played only in 2008.
Notably, the sale of two new franchises- Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants- ahead of the IPL last season roped in $1.6 billion for the BCCI which multiplied the average price tag of a team to 16 times, a clear factor in boosting valuation numbers. The final figure of almost an $11 billion should be viewed in the context of its valuation of $6.2 billion in 2020 which indicates the scale of the growth and the less duration in which the IPL has managed to make it happen.
IPL 2023 Auction on December 23
Meanwhile, the Indian Premier League auction for the 2023 season is scheduled to happen on December 23 in Kochi. A total of 405 cricketers are set to be auctioned this time with a maximum of 87 slots up for grabs. The highest base price which player can decide for himself is 2 crores and as many as 19 overseas players will be up for sale from this category including the likes of Ben Stokes, Kane Williamson and Sam Curran.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have the highest salary cap available to them at INR 42.25 crores while Kolkata Knight Riders can only spend 7.05 Crores, the least among the 10 teams.