IPL 2022 will be a 10-team affair with addition of the two new teams.
After all, two new teams are set to be added next year, making IPL a 10-team tournament. The last time IPL featured 10 teams were in 2011 and it remains to be seen what the two new teams bring to the table in IPL 2022.
Now the interesting discussion has begun on the valuation of the two new franchises given that IPL remains the most lucrative T20 league in the world not just for players but also for its franchise owners.
The eight IPL franchises are among the most valued sports teams in the world. In the existing system, the likes of Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, etc. are said to be topping the charts.
As per a report in Cricbuzz, while the Royals are presently valued at INR 1855 crore, the Super Kings have a valuation of INR 2200 to 2300 crore. Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, are valued at even more (INR 2700 crore to 2800 crore).
Going by this logic, one can expect the new franchises to be valued at a base price of USD 250 million (INR 1850 crore) while the final cost could be in the region of USD 300-400 million (INR 2200 crore to INR 2900 crore).
"We always knew that the new teams would be upwards of USD 300-400 million. Look we are talking of RR, which is not one of the highest-ranked franchises, going by different IPL parameters. If its value is USD 250 million, it is only good news for the BCCI,” N Santosh, the managing partner of D&P Advisory, told Cricbuzz.
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"In that perspective, the BCCI would be looking between USD 300-400 million. We were anticipating that six months back. With RedBird, that estimation gets reaffirmed. An average team now should cost USD 300 million, so the new team should be around 400 million (about Rs 3000 crore). If we also factor in the Ahmedabad point, the largest stadium in the world, there could be a chance of a huge gap between the price of the two new teams - one may go for USD 400 million and another for USD 350 million," Santosh added.
A number of corporates have shown interest in buying the two new franchises but a source did explain that it would take time before the franchise owners can recover their cost. "He can recover around Rs 150-200 crore out of that in the first 10 years when some losses are inevitable. He will keep making the moolah after 10 years," the source said.
(Cricbuzz inputs)