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What is the reason behind the IPL Valuation dip?

BouncerGuy

BouncerGuy

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The Indian Premier League India (IPL), once celebrated for its unstoppable commercial rise, has seen its valuation drop for the second consecutive year — now standing at $8.8 billion (₹76,100 crore) in 2025, down from $9.9 billion (₹82,700 crore) in 2024 and a peak of $11.2 billion (₹92,500 crore) in 2023.

While fan engagement and viewership remain strong, several key factors are reshaping its business dynamics:

• Consolidation of media rights (Disney Star & Viacom18 merger) reduced competitive bidding.

• Ban on real-money gaming (RMG) sponsorships removed one of the league’s biggest revenue contributors.

•Market correction after years of exponential growth — the valuation cycle is stabilizing.

•Advertising yields under pressure as high-spending categories pull back.

•Regulatory and policy uncertainty adding caution to investor sentiment.

Despite these challenges, the IPL remains one of the world’s most powerful sports properties — now transitioning from rapid expansion to sustainable monetization and strategic innovation.

Cricket’s business model is evolving — and the IPL continues to set benchmarks for global sports leagues.

www.linkedin.com

#ipl #sportsbusiness #cricket #sportsmarketing #sponsorship #mediarights #valuation #sportsmanagement | Prashant Kumar

📉 IPL Valuation Sees a Dip — What’s Driving the Decline? The Indian Premier League India (IPL), once celebrated for its unstoppable commercial rise, has seen its valuation drop for the second consecutive year — now standing at $8.8 billion (₹76,100 crore) in 2025, down from $9.9 billion...
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As an Indian fan, I don't care. These are the things that should worry who have a skin in the game. We ordinary fans don't.
 
Hitman said:
For Pakistani fans? Yes, it is. Why would a bunch of fans follow a league that does not even feature any players from their country. And specially when they have a league of their own.​
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I suspect it's becoming boring for all non indian fans
 
You read it here first: Cricket is in long-term decline in India. Yes, it will still be the #1 market for the obvious reason, but the interest has been on a gradual downward slope ever since the 2011 World Cup win.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
For the premier league ? Lack of competitive bidding, less interest from the younger generation etc.

Since 2016/17, the premier league has lost 765 million pounds in broadcasting revenue, taking inflation into account, from what I remember reading
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Interesting I'll look out for the article. I got the impression it was growing and growing.
 
@Nikhil_cric as per cricbuzz a paragraph for the stake in rcb sale seems really interesting.

There is also a view that the valuation will inevitably rise after JioStar announced that its subscriber base has expanded beyond 500 million. If it charged INR 100 per month for IPL, the company would earn about INR 50 billion (roughly INR 5000 crore) each month. Given that the IPL is expected to span four months - from March to June - and feature 96 scheduled games, the subscription revenue alone could amount to nearly INR 20,000 crore or USD 2.3 billion over the tournament's duration in one season.


So Reliance may bag good profits but ipl valuation may not increase exponentially. I guess profits will be in linear mode. At the end, no one can beat Jio's massive subscription i believe .It may be beaten by only Facebook/ Amazon/Netflix.
 
DeadlyVenom said:
Interesting I'll look out for the article. I got the impression it was growing and growing.
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The overseas rights are still growing but it's declining in the domestic market and even the overseas rights are expected to plateau in near future. Article is behind a paywall.
 
Maybe other sports are now getting a share of the attention - which is also good
 
RidiculousMan said:
I suspect it's becoming boring for all non indian fans
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I seriously doubt there is/was any significant non Indian interest to begin with. Why would there be? IPL is for the Indian market and the expats in US, UK. Maybe for the few in Aus, NZ, SA and the ME.
 
Majority cricketers are Indian origin, and with all due respect…they are not very fortunate looking.
 
Banning of betting apps player a huge role along with JIO monopoly.

In India, satellite (TV) revenues have come down as OTT revenues have taken over. This trend is the same for even movies too and it will only increase.

So, valuations might get adjusted. Just like any company, valuations might skyrocket in growth phase but will plateau eventually to a stable growth rate of 5-6% annually which is the long-term GDP growth rate.

Infact, if a competitor league like Test20 emerges, IPL may see a dip too.

And the ad-revenues are driven by consumer market spending. Due to weak global sentiments, FMCG and apparel sales haven seen much of a growth in India and hence marketing budgets were constrainer. I think, it will revive in the next 2-3 years and valuations might see positive adjustments in future.
 
One of the reason could be Shortage of international superstars right now in IPL.

ABD alone probably added 1 billion in IPL valuation. He’s the Greatest player in IPL history with most M.O.M despite being a middle order batsmen.
 
IPL has kinda peaked. It has reached out to all possible audiences. There is no new market within India to address.

There is also a fatigue factor. This non stop cricket cycle gets boring. India is playing whole year. No off season. Few days after 2024 World T20 , India was playing in Zimbabwe. Its getting a bit jaded now. Case of overkill. BCCI should start looking for a 3 month off season.

Last but not the least - ban on betting & gaming apps. That wud be direct revenue loss
 
Varun said:
You read it here first: Cricket is in long-term decline in India. Yes, it will still be the #1 market for the obvious reason, but the interest has been on a gradual downward slope ever since the 2011 World Cup win.
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Lots of options for millenials & Gen Z. U have EPL , La Liga , Formula one , tennis , NBA , Amazon Prime , Netflix etc ...

Cricket is slowly losing its hold ( same as Bollywood ) amongst the youth
 
Now there is no charm in IPL, a decade back it was more entertainment and cricket than business, now its mainly business who cares about cricket
 
among my acquaintances nobody watches IPL, except Indians

i suspect that the value was inflated to begin with and it might have been money laundering platform


as the US relationship with India struggles, the implications will not only be noticed at H1B visa/individual level but also corporate level

these valuations are politically motivated too as the recent valuation of Verdivis Free Press has proven
 
tiger_khan said:
among my acquaintances nobody watches IPL, except Indians

i suspect that the value was inflated to begin with and it might have been money laundering platform


as the US relationship with India struggles, the implications will not only be noticed at H1B visa/individual level but also corporate level

these valuations are politically motivated too as the recent valuation of Verdivis Free Press has proven
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* Bari Weis's Free Press
 
Possible reason:- IPL's valuation dropped 21% to $8.8B in 2025 due to India's Online Gaming Bill banning real-money gaming ads & sponsorships, a major revenue hit, and media rights consolidation reducing bidding wars. Despite this, IPL remains a global sports giant.
 
IPL have damaged cricket. So, I am glad IPL's valuation is dipping. :inti

Would be nice if IPL gets dissolved permanently.
 
The IPL will keep growing as the Indian economy keeps growing. So 3-4 decades more.

And no, Paksitanis still won't be allowed.
 
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tiger_khan said:
among my acquaintances nobody watches IPL, except Indians

i suspect that the value was inflated to begin with and it might have been money laundering platform


as the US relationship with India struggles, the implications will not only be noticed at H1B visa/individual level but also corporate level

these valuations are politically motivated too as the recent valuation of Verdivis Free Press has proven
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Indians are the vast majority of the cricket watching population and contribute 80-90% of revenues. the rest of the world does not matter, no matter how much Pakistanis would like it to be so.
 
~20% drop is massive drop most likely due to market correction as peak valuation was already reached. Also, no one one watches cable/satellite channels anymore. Not everyone wants to watch sports behind paywall over OTT.

Sports are anyway too overvalued in general.
 
If this is the case with IPL, I shudder to think what state the other leagues are in.

Though I would say that this is just market forces at play. Adjustments will keep happening. Valuations go up, come down, go up again etc. So cannot take one particular point in time. As with anything, have to look at the broader picture. Long term over many years. Is there growth? What do the next 5, 10 years look like?

It depends on the Indian economy. Which seems to be chugging along. Population with good amount of disposable income. This bodes well for IPL. Though they do have to compete for eyeballs with various other forms of entertainment. But that is good as well. Will make the IPL people work to compete. Which will result in a better product. Win for the consumer.

I do see the IPL getting bigger. Expansion in the next 5-7 years will happen. Likely will take up more time of the cricket calendar. Which of course will shrink internationals. Which is the downside to this.

On the whole IPL is a success and here to stay for the long term.
 
U$ofA said:
If this is the case with IPL, I shudder to think what state the other leagues are in.

Though I would say that this is just market forces at play. Adjustments will keep happening. Valuations go up, come down, go up again etc. So cannot take one particular point in time. As with anything, have to look at the broader picture. Long term over many years. Is there growth? What do the next 5, 10 years look like?

It depends on the Indian economy. Which seems to be chugging along. Population with good amount of disposable income. This bodes well for IPL. Though they do have to compete for eyeballs with various other forms of entertainment. But that is good as well. Will make the IPL people work to compete. Which will result in a better product. Win for the consumer.

I do see the IPL getting bigger. Expansion in the next 5-7 years will happen. Likely will take up more time of the cricket calendar. Which of course will shrink internationals. Which is the downside to this.

On the whole IPL is a success and here to stay for the long term.
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IPL is not reaching its peak for a long long time if ever.

Even NBA etc chug along and those are mature first world economies with low growth.
 
saimayubera said:
Indians are the vast majority of the cricket watching population and contribute 80-90% of revenues. the rest of the world does not matter, no matter how much Pakistanis would like it to be so.
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Actually the rest of the world matters, that's why the foreign players are brought by the IPL

India does not have enough talent of its own to attract viewers

If India had enough talent if its own, it wouldn't need the IPL, it's domestic cricket alone would be enough.

India is nothing on its own when it comes to cricket

It's not like the US in Basketball, American Football, Baseball, etc. It's not self-sufficient.
 
BDfanforever said:
~20% drop is massive drop most likely due to market correction as peak valuation was already reached. Also, no one one watches cable/satellite channels anymore. Not everyone wants to watch sports behind paywall over OTT.

Sports are anyway too overvalued in general.
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That's is true, I do think NFL is an exception because of how tight they have kept the league, they are the only ones that can call the shots and with fewer teams it keeps up the interest.
The evaluation of Dallas cowboys is insane considering Texas isn't even the no1. economy in USA, but i do think its over evaluated as well considering they haven't won a super bowl in 30 years.
 
It's too long. 6 weeks is the max to be hooked on to a tournament.
 
• Ban on real-money gaming (RMG) sponsorships removed one of the league’s biggest revenue contributors.

Lol why would they take this off, it was contributing so much, even technically , Indian regulation is annoying as hell.
 
Savak said:
It's too long. 6 weeks is the max to be hooked on to a tournament.
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Viewership and engagement doesn't seem to be the issue.. the points in the post are pretty valid, also stand alone valuation of IPL is rising:

www.sportspro.com

IPL valuation leaps 12.9% to US$18.5bn - SportsPro

Newly crowned IPL champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru have highest brand value of any franchise at US$269 million.
www.sportspro.com www.sportspro.com

last year's RCB final was the most watched game.
 
IPL is expanding its matches and making it 2 2-month event, but its evaluation is dipping still...

maybe try to do the opposite instead and make it a bit short instead of making is longer and boring.
 
Savak said:
It's too long. 6 weeks is the max to be hooked on to a tournament.
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BouncerGuy said:
IPL is expanding its matches and making it 2 2-month event, but its evaluation is dipping still...

maybe try to do the opposite instead and make it a bit short instead of making is longer and boring.
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Would be interesting to see the streaming, tv numbers. That will give a clear picture of how much demand, following there is.

I am sure RCB's championship had the same amount of following as Ind. Asia cup win. Probably even more. Which tells where the IPL is in the pecking order.
 
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