Analysis

The $3.41 billion week that redrew the IPL

Two exits worth $3.41 billion have reset what an IPL franchise is worth, ushered in a new class of owners, and raised fresh questions about media rights and risk

Venkat Ananth

25 Mar 2026 — 7 min read

Photo by Silvia Marcos / Unsplash

On January 24 2008, eight men walked into a room in Mumbai and acquired pieces of cricket’s future. The bids were ambitious, reckless in places, and, in at least one case, driven more by ego than arithmetic.

Vijay Mallya paid $111.6 million for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, née Bangalore (RCB). Manoj Badale’s Emerging Media paid $67 million for Rajasthan Royals (RR), the cheapest lot in the room. The total spent that day on what would become the Indian Premier League’s (IPL’s) founding eight was $723.59 million.

Eighteen years later, in the same week of March 2026, two of those franchises changed hands for $3.41 billion combined. A Birla–Times–Blackstone–Blitzer consortium paid $1.78 billion for RCB. A group led by Kal Somani, backed by Rob Walton (heir to the Walmart fortune) and the Hamp family, paid $1.63 billion for RR.

The $178.6 million spent in 2008 on these two franchises has become $3.41 billion. In nominal dollar terms, that is a 19x return on the combined entry over eighteen years.

How the money compounded

Cricket’s banker: How A&W came to price the IPL

A&W Capital is registered in London, runs out of Mumbai and is now expanding its reach to New York. Since 2021, it has been in the room for every major cricket deal. You have probably not heard of it. That, very much, is the point.

From S Tendehar to the ICC: Cricket’s long hunt for its own game

For nearly four decades, cricket has chased a digital mirror worthy of its devotion. Time and again, it has come close, only to misplace the moment. Now, the ICC believes it has finally assembled the pieces. What waits beyond that belief is the hard part.

The Rajasthan Royals sale: five weeks on, and a new offer

Last month, word circulated that a consortium led by Kal Somani had secured the Rajasthan Royals for $1.63 billion. No party to the transaction has confirmed it. The lead bidder is still assembling capital, even as a rival consortium submitted a binding offer.

The money behind the money: Inside the RCB fundraise

Three weeks after Diageo sold Royal Challengers Bengaluru for $1.78 billion, the consortium that bought it is still raising the funds. The State of Play reveals how, and who is being asked to write the cheques.