When the Indian Premier League (IPL) made its debut in 2008, experts termed it as an” entertainment platter” that won’t be around for a long time. However, 14 years down the line, the IPL has not only established itself as a brand but has laid the stepping stone for Franchise T20 League all across the globe.
The IPL Model of Franchise based cricket has not only been popular and successful but has also established itself as a globally scalable business. The Brand Value of IPL has increased manifold as the 2022 edition saw the IPL Broadcasting Rights getting sold to Disney Star for a whopping INR 23,575 Cr ($3.02 Bn). Viacom 18 earned the digital rights for the competition with a bid of INR 20,500 Cr ($2.57 Bn) thus making IPL the second-richest league in the world, second only to the US’ NFL.
With such a huge brand value and popularity at place, the IPL Franchise has started growing global and now are emerging as the Team Owners of the Franchises of other domestic T20 Leagues. The IPL franchises have reportedly brought all the Six Franchises of the brand new South Africa’s new domestic T20 League.
The South Africa’s global T20 League also known as the CSA T20 League is the 3rd revamped version of the T20 League after the subsequent failures of its predecessors the Mzansi Super League and the T20 Global League and it will feature 6 Franchises from Newlands Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Paarl, Durban and Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).
6 IPL Franchises namely the Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals have emerged as the Owners of these 6 Franchises.
The Reliance Industries, the proud owner of IPL’s most successful team Mumbai Indians (MI) have bought the Newlands franchise.
JSW Sports, which owns Delhi Capitals (DC), have bagged Pretoria,.
The Johannesburg franchise has been roped up by the owners of Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Rajasthan Royals (RR), the runners up for IPL 2022 have picked up the Paarl franchise.
The Franchise from Durban has been successfully brought in by the The RP Sanjeev Goenka group which also owns the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) franchise.
Sun TV Group, which owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) franchise, has snapped up the Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) franchise.
However this is not the first time that the IPL Franchises have gone global. The Red Chilies Entertainment that owns the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Franchise made the first “global” venture when it became owner of the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR), the most successful team in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in 2015.
KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, the consortium that owns Punjab KIngs (PBKS) , purchased the Caribbean Premier League team St Lucia Zouks in 2020, while the Royals Sports Group (EM Sporting Holdings Ltd), the owners of IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) acquired a majority stake in the Barbados Tridents, Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in 2021.
The Knight Riders Group have also made a significant investment in Major League Cricket (MLC) in the US and has also announced plans to set up a franchise in the greater Los Angeles area.
In May 2022, the Knight Riders Group announced that they have acquired the rights to own and operate the Abu Dhabi franchise and there is a subsequent planning to set up Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (ADKR) as part of the UAE’s flagship T20 league.
Two more IPL franchises reportedly the Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals (GMR Group) have also brought teams in the UAE T20 league which has been rescheduled to take place from January 2023, with six teams.
The trend clearly shows that the IPL Franchises has already set up their footprints in the global T20 map and this globalization is bound to take the Franchise T20 Cricket to newer heights.