IPL chairman Arun Dhumal believes that the media rights value of the league has the potential to touch a staggering USD 50 billion over the next two decades, provided it keeps innovating and improvising with fans' interests in mind.
The current media rights value of the league stands at USD 6.2 billion (approx Rs 48000 crore) for a five-year period starting from 2022.
Even by this estimate, IPL is the second-most high-valued league after the National Football League (NFL), as the American sporting entity struck a USD 110 billion media deal for an 11-year period starting from last year.
"If I have to see how it has gone over the last 15 years and if I have to go by estimates going forward, we are expecting media rights (of the IPL) to go somewhere close to USD 50 billion by around 2043," said Dhumal while speaking at the RCB Innovation Lab's Leaders Meet India here.
Dhumal, who is also a former BCCI treasurer, also pinned his hopes for a financial windfall on the advent of the Women's Premier League (WPL) and cricket's inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
"We need to keep innovating, keep doing better in terms of fan engagement, and keep making it better in terms of the quality of games," he said.
"Now that cricket is becoming part of the Olympics and with the WPL taking it to a different level for women's cricket, I see a lot of hope and light at the end of the tunnel," said Dhumal.
The media rights value of the IPL has grown exponentially in the last decade and half from the Rs 6000 crore in 2008, going past several other major sporting leagues across the world.
Dhumal dissected the growth and ever-swelling popularity of the IPL.
"IPL is the most-watched cricket league in the world. Personally, I feel IPL is the best Make in India brand we can think of post-Independence.
"We are a very diverse country in terms of states, cultures and languages being spoken. But this is one platform (IPL) which is rooted so well that you are able to showcase India to the globe," he said.
