Recent franchise transactions valued Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals at levels that push the Indian Premier League's aggregate enterprise value to $20.6 billion, according to a Houlihan Lokey valuation study published this week. The figure places cricket's most commercially successful property within range of the NFL's team-level valuations and well ahead of Major League Baseball's collective worth.
RCB's minority stake sale and the Royals' ownership restructuring both closed in recent months at prices implying franchise values above $1.8 billion each. The IPL operates ten franchises, meaning the average team now carries a $2.06 billion valuation—higher than the median NBA franchise and double the IPL's own median valuation from 2022. Houlihan Lokey's study factored secondary-market transaction data, EBITDA multiples from comparable North American leagues, and India's expanding broadcast rights cycle, which generated $6.2 billion over five years when last renewed.
The valuation milestone matters because it confirms what private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds have been pricing in for two years: cricket's financial center of gravity has moved from London to Mumbai, and the IPL's revenue model—short season, high yield, majority-digital viewership—maps better to institutional portfolio construction than legacy European soccer leagues. The Board of Control for Cricket in India caps team ownership at ten franchises and prohibits public listings, creating scarcity that American sports owners recognize. Three NFL ownership groups have quietly explored IPL stakes through advisors since mid-2024, though none have closed. The presence of RedBird Capital, CVC, and Blackstone across various franchises signals the asset class has migrated from venture bets to core allocations.
Sponsorship inventory tells the same story. IPL title sponsorship sold for $320 million over five seasons in 2022—an annual rate of $64 million, compared to the NFL's $40 million per season Pepsi deal or the Premier League's $55 million annual Barclays commitment. Per-match media rates now exceed those of international cricket tests by a factor of seven, and the league's audience skews younger and wealthier than traditional cricket viewership, with 68% of IPL viewers under age 35 versus 41% for Test cricket.
Ownership structures are changing accordingly. The Royals brought in RedBird IMI and the Qatar Investment Authority in a transaction that valued the franchise near $1.9 billion. RCB's stake sale to Pratap Bahl and others implied a similar number. Both deals involved secondary sales rather than primary capital raises, meaning sellers extracted full liquidity at those marks—unusual in sports, where minority stakes typically trade at discounts. The lack of discount suggests buyers expect the IPL to expand beyond ten teams, adding two franchises by 2027 and diluting existing team values less than equivalent expansions in MLS or the NBA.
The Houlihan Lokey study also noted that IPL teams generate higher EBITDA margins than their American counterparts—averaging 31% versus the NFL's 23%—because player costs remain capped by auction rules and stadium lease structures favor franchises over municipalities. Teams retain 80% of gate revenue and 50% of local sponsorship, with the BCCI taking the remainder. Compare that to the Premier League's merit-based revenue share or MLB's luxury tax redistribution, and the IPL's ownership economics start to resemble a closed venture fund with guaranteed carry.
What to watch: the BCCI is expected to announce its stance on two additional franchises before the 2026 season, with Ahmedabad and Lucknow rumored as expansion sites. Title sponsorship comes up for renewal in 2027, and bankers expect bidding to start above $100 million annually. Meanwhile, three IPL franchise owners have begun examining stakes in nascent T20 leagues in the UAE and South Africa, treating them as farm-system adjacencies rather than direct competitors.
The IPL's valuation now exceeds the combined enterprise value of England's County Championship, Australia's Big Bash League, and the Caribbean Premier League—the next three largest cricket properties—by a factor of twelve. The gap is widening, not closing.
The takeaway
IPL franchises now trade at NFL-level valuations with higher margins, turning cricket into a core institutional allocation and leaving rival leagues behind.
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