IPL 2024: Saudi Arabia to buy Indian Premier League stake at USD 5Bn: Reports: In a much important development for the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the Saudis have shown interest in taking up a USD 5 Billion stake in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) ahead of the Tata IPL 2024. Reports have emerged that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia is keen to invest in the league, which has shown immense progress since its inception in 2008.
As per the report published in Bloomberg, Mohammad bin Salman, the prince of Saudi Arabia is quite interested in the IPL and wants to invest as much as USD 5 Billion valued at USD 30 Billion.
Reportedly, the discussions were put on the table back in September when Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman visited India. The Saudi government even proposed to help the expansion of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) to other nations.
However, the report added that any further development on the matter is unlikely to happen for the time being. The Government of India and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are expected to consider the matter only after the completion of the general elections, which are scheduled for 2024.
The BCCI has not taken any decision regarding the investment offered by Saudi Arabia. If the proposal gets the agreement of the concerned Indian authorities then Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund could be the vehicle to move ahead.
Furthermore, for the development to proceed, the Indian Premier League (IPL) will have to be moved into a holding company. The conversion into a holding company would mean that other interested investors can also pitch their proposals and claim a stake in the showpiece event.
IPL’s popularity has skyrocketed in the past few years and it has been on a steady rise since its inception. Last year the bidders shelled out a whopping USD 6 Billion to acquire the media rights of the IPL, which shows how popular the tournament has become. With such highly valued media rights, the IPL has become the world’s second most lucrative sports product and is only behind the National Football League of the US.
If we talk about the per-game cost of the IPL, the bidders pumped in USD 13.44 Billion which is approximately INR 105 Crores.
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