Investors are chasing the Indian Premier League to ride the booming cricket economy

Indian cricket is increasingly becoming a hot spot for investors looking to cash in on the booming business of the continent’s most popular sport.

In just over a month, the Indian Premier League, or IPL, has seen two franchises sold to investors at valuations in the billions of dollars and above, the latest being the Rajasthan Royals bought this Sunday, valued at $1.65 billion.

A consortium of American investors led by Kal Somani and backed by Walmart Group’s Rob Walton was in the process of buying Rajasthan Royals, according to multiple media reports, but lost out on world steel magnate Laxmi Mittal and Indian cricket legend Adar Poonawalla.

Somani’s team expressed disappointment at not being able to own the franchise, according to ESPN. “We are all motivated by the opportunity to help take the IPL to the highest international level,” the federation said.

In late March, a group including Blackstone and American sports investor David Blitzer acquired the IPL’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru, or RCB, franchise in a $1.8 billion deal.

The IPL is a fast-paced, franchise-based cricket league established in 2008 featuring top international and Indian talent. Played every year for about two months, it features 10 teams, offering a mix of hot cricket, celebrity ownership, entertainment, and a huge TV and broadcast audience.

The history of strong revenue and the potential to grow franchises supported by nearly a billion fans are leading to increased interest from global investors in the IPL, say experts.

“The IPL has become very attractive to investors because it combines the power of strong capital appreciation with stable, recurring cash flow,” James Walton, group leader of sports, Deloitte Asia Pacific, told CNBC in an email.

On a per-game basis, the IPL is already the second most prestigious league after the NFL, according to Deloitte. The IPL’s valuation is estimated at $18.5 billion, compared to the NFL’s $227 billion and the NBA’s $165 billion in 2025, but compared to the IPL’s 74 games, the NFL’s teams play 272 games, and the NBA’s 30 teams play 82 games per team each season.

Apart from liquidity, the return to investors has also been very good. “Compared to the benchmarks of global deals, IPL profits stand out for their speed and growth profile,” said Walton, estimating that private equity firm CVC Capital made a 350% profit last year when it sold its 67% stake in IPL franchise Gujarat Titans. CVC had acquired Gujarat Titans in 2021.

Take the case of RCB, a franchise that has a huge following despite winning the league only once since its inception.

RCB returned 37 times its investment after being sold for 166 billion rupees in March. Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, former owner of United Spirits, recently revealed that he bought RCB for 4.5 billion rupees. In 2013, when Diageo acquired United Spirits, ownership of RCB was transferred to the brewer.

“[IPL] Franchise valuations have multiplied several times over the past decade, with returns that rival America’s top league,” said Gareth Berlee, managing director of Singapore-based Mason Rae Capital, which specializes in fundraising for sports goods.

Compared to the NBA and the English Premier League, the Indian cricket league is still in the early stages of maturity, so although the total number is low, the growth path will be steep, say experts.

“In my view, investors are buying what US stocks looked like 12-15 years ago, but this time with a much larger demographic and digital audience,” Berlee said in an email to CNBC.

The next phase of growth will be internationalization of languages, deeper monetization of digital audiences, and increased commercialization beyond matchday revenue, he said. Some of it is ongoing.

According to market research firm Nielsen, more than 66% of people in India are cricket fans – about 950 million. That provides significant potential for growth as rising revenues drive consumption of tickets and merchandise, experts told CNBC.

Fans are buying tickets at prices that “would have been unthinkable a few years ago,” said Amitesh Shah, founder of sports management company LegaXy, adding that fans’ engagement with the game “doesn’t end when the last ball is thrown.”

They spend money on marketing, sign up on forums to follow their groups, and engage with product campaigns in ways that lead to purchases, Shah said.

IPL teams are now full-fledged sports and entertainment franchises.

The IPL 2025 season was watched by more than one billion people across television channels and digital platforms and resulted in 3.83 billion interactions on social media. About 44% of those who watched also engaged in a free-to-play, live quiz during the game.

There is no better example of the pull of these franchises between home fans and the Indian diaspora than the Mittal family, which has its roots in the state of Rajasthan.

“I love cricket, and my family is from Rajasthan, so there is no IPL team I would rather be a part of than Rajasthan Royals,” Mittal said in a statement announcing the purchase.

From a consumer’s perspective, the IPL ticks all the right boxes and is the only profitable bet investors can make on Indian sports as of now, say experts.

It has a large and growing fan base, revenue is visible as media rights revenue comes in before the start of the season, and external risks are few, says Karan Kalra, managing partner at law firm Bombay Law Chambers.