IPL's growth is going to be as sure as it is going to be steady

Mumbai, Dec 04: IPL's growth story is going to be as sure as it is going to be steady.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Arun Dhumal has recently indicated that the league’s journey of success over the last 15 years should potentially drive its media rights value to $ 50 billion in the next two decades.

Commenting on it in an exclusive interaction with Bizz Buzz, N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research, a consumer insights and brand analytics company, says, “While 2 decades is a long time to estimate as is its future valuation, what can be said for sure is that IPL's growth is going to be as sure as it is going to be steady.”

The IPL franchise has taken phenomenal strides since it started and has shown no signs of any breaks, becoming the world's largest franchise. Its likelihood of growing even more is very high considering that the audience interest in the game continues unabated, he said.

According to Chandramouli , “The large population of the cricket loving crowd is the main contributor to this, apart from glamour it attracts. The recent performance of India in the world cup, reignited the interest in cricket as a whole, when everyone was glued to the scores, despite India's loss.”

The media rights for the IPL have grown from Rs 6,000 crores to Rs 48000 crores and the league is only second to the National Football League (NFL) across all sporting leagues in the world. Dhumal believes the widespread popularity and success of the league will act as a catalyst in its evolution over the next 10 years.

“Now that cricket is becoming part of the Olympics and with the Women’s Premier League taking it to a different level for women’s cricket, I see a lot of hope and light at the end of the tunnel. Because of the way it has been happening for the last 15 years, it is only going to get better,” Dhumal had said.