Saudi Arabia eyes ‘significant’ stake in IPL, proposes investment up to $5 billion

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Legends League Cricket adds two new franchises, bags $30 million Representatives for the BCCI and the Saudi government’s Center for International Communication didn’t respond to requests for comment. The Public Investment Fund declined to comment. Sign up for Bloomberg’s Business of Sports newsletter for the context you need on the collision of power, money and sports, from the latest deals to the newest stakeholders.

Delivered weekly. Since its inception in 2008, the IPL has married American-style marketing with the glitz of Bollywood and the energy of India’s vast population. The IPL’s central strategic move was to discard cricket’s traditional format for broadcast-friendly three or four hour games that encourage big, risky swings and frequent “sixes," cricket’s equivalent of a home run.

The league has drawn a plethora of sponsors, including Aramco and the Saudi tourism authority. And despite a season that runs for just eight weeks each spring, bidders last year paid $6.2 billion for the right to broadcast IPL games through 2027. That works out to $15.1 million per match, more than the EPL and just behind the $17 million networks pay for each game in the National Football League in the US.

ALSO READ: MP Elections 2023: Congress manifesto promises IPL team, caste census Any Saudi investment into the IPL or changes to the league’s format will likely mean those agreements for media rights will need to be reworked, according to people familiar with the matter. Global Cricketing Destination Over the past few years, Saudi Arabia has splashed out billions of dollars on sports and the chairman of the sport’s governing body in the kingdom has said he wants to turn the nation into a global cricketing destination. “You can’t