Cricket Is the World's Most Profitable Startup. And the Boards Running It Figured Out the Business Model Before Silicon Valley Figured Out Streaming.

Let's be clear about what cricket actually is in 2025.

It is not a gentleman's game played on manicured lawns in England. It is not a nostalgic ritual of Test matches and county cricket. It is a $3.84 billion global media and entertainment industry — the most profitable sports startup ever built — that happens to use a bat and a ball as props.

And the boards running it figured out the business model before most technology companies understood what a platform business was.

The IPL launched in 2008 with 8 teams and a $1 billion valuation. By 2025, it is worth $18.5 billion. That is a 1,750% increase in 17 years.

For context: the NFL took over 100 years to build what it has. The NBA took 78 years. The IPL did it in under two decades — with a two-month season.

That is not normal. That is a startup story. And it gets stranger when you look at who runs it.

The Numbers First

A few top-line figures before we get into the mechanics:

Global cricket revenue (2025): $3.84 billion India's share: 62% ($2.38B) BCCI annual revenue (FY 2023-24): $1.95B (₹16,313 crore) IPL business valuation (2025): $18.5 billion IPL media rights deal 2023–2027: $6.2 billion Broadcast revenue per IPL match: $16 million IPL viewership 2024: 620 million unique viewers Total streaming minutes (IPL 2024): 350 billion minutes ICC annual distribution to boards: $600 million

Sources: Houlihan Lokey IPL Valuation Study 2025 · Brand Finance IPL 2025 · GlobalData · ESPNcricinfo · Reuters · Bloomberg

The IPL: The Startup That Ate Cricket

In 2007, India won the inaugural T20 World Cup. The format was electric — three-hour matches, packed stadiums, instant results. BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan and commissioner Lalit Modi saw what the NBA had built in America and asked a simple question: what if cricket had franchises?

In January 2008, eight franchise rights were auctioned off. The total raised: ₹4,164 crore ($523 million). Average franchise cost: $65 million. The IPL was instantly India's first unicorn — before Flipkart, before InMobi, before anyone.

By 2022, two new franchises — Lucknow and Gujarat — were added. The price for each: $930 million.

The same franchise that cost $65M in 2008 is now worth over $1 billion. That is a 15x return in 14 years — without selling a single product.

How the Money Actually Flows

Most people think IPL teams make money from ticket sales. They do. But that is not the point.

Broadcasting is the engine. The 2023–2027 media rights deal fetched ₹48,390 crore ($6.2B) — split between JioStar (digital) and Star Sports (TV). Per match, BCCI earns ₹119 crore ($16M) in broadcast revenue alone. Only the NFL earns more per match at $37M.

BCCI takes the central pool and redistributes it. 50% of all central revenue — broadcast rights, title sponsorship, official partners — flows back to the 10 franchises. In 2023, each franchise received ₹467 crore ($56M) from the central pool alone. Before a single ticket was sold.

Franchises layer on their own revenue: jersey sponsors (10 logos per kit), title sponsors, home match gate receipts, merchandise, and prize money.

Ticket sales are the visible layer. Average ticket: ₹2,000 ($24). A full stadium of 30,000–60,000 fans generates ₹6–8 crore ($720K–$1M) per match. RCB fans at Chinnaswamy paid ₹52,938 ($635) via surge pricing in 2024.

Player salary cap: ₹100 crore per team in 2024 — up from ₹20 crore in 2008, a 5x increase. But franchise revenue grew 19x in the same period. The owners are getting richer faster than the players.

The Legal Fiction That Makes It All Work: BCCI Is an NGO

This is the part that should stop you cold.

The BCCI — the organisation that runs the IPL, collects ₹9,741 crore in annual revenue, holds ₹20,686 crore in cash reserves, and receives $230 million a year from the ICC — is legally classified as a charitable, non-profit organisation under Indian law.

It pays zero income tax on its IPL earnings.

The BCCI is registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975. It claims tax exemption under Section 12AA of the Income Tax Act — a provision designed for genuine charitable institutions like hospitals, schools, and NGOs.

The BCCI's official charitable purpose is "promoting the sport of cricket in India." That's it. That is the entire argument.

Under this logic, here is what qualifies as charitable activity in India's tax code:

Signing a ₹48,390 crore broadcast deal with JioStar and Star Sports. Collecting ₹5,761 crore in IPL revenue in FY 2023-24 alone. Holding ₹20,686 crore in cash and bank balances. Auctioning franchise rights at $930 million per team.

The government has tried to dismantle this arrangement multiple times. It has failed every time. The most recent ruling: the Bombay High Court in February 2025 quashed the Income Tax Department's advisory, ruling that tax status can only be revoked through a full statutory process — not informal communications.

The ITAT ruling from November 2021 in plain English: "It is immaterial that the IPL was raking in huge amounts of money. The primary nature and purpose of the organisation — promoting cricket — has not changed."

BCCI earned ₹11,769 crore from the IPL across 2022–24. Tax paid: ₹0. The GST paid on IPL transactions over two years was ₹2,038 crore — on an organisation that earned ₹15,000+ crore in the same period. Effective rate: roughly 6-7%.

The comparison that makes it real: Amazon India paid ₹1,491 crore in income tax in FY24. BCCI, with comparable revenue, paid ₹0. Both are doing business in India. Only one of them is classified as a charity.

The World Copied the Model

The IPL did not just make money. It created a template. Every cricket board on the planet has now launched its own version — and several of them are owned by the same IPL franchise investors, who are quietly building a global cricket investment portfolio.

SA20: All 6 teams owned by IPL franchise investors. MI Cape Town (Mumbai Indians), Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SRH), Paarl Royals (Rajasthan Royals).

ILT20: Emirates Lions (Punjab Kings), Gulf Giants (Delhi Capitals family), Sharjah Warriors (RCB family). UAE tax-free contracts attract global stars.

MLC (USA): LA Knight Riders (KKR), MI New York (Mumbai Indians). IPL owners are building the American cricket market ahead of the 2024 World Cup boost.

WPL: Five teams, launched 2023, generated ₹377 crore surplus in Year 1 — the richest women's league in any sport by central revenue in its debut season.

Take Mumbai Indians alone. They now operate teams in India (IPL), UAE (ILT20), South Africa (SA20), and USA (MLC). That is not a cricket team. That is a multi-league sports holding company with four active revenue streams across three continents.

Wall Street and the Glazers Are Watching. And Bidding.

For a long time, global private equity treated cricket like it treated rugby — a regional curiosity with passionate fans but no institutional liquidity. That view is now completely dead.

In late 2025, CVC Capital Partners quietly exited its stake in Gujarat Titans. The return: over 350% in dollar terms in four years, valuing the team at $900 million. CVC paid approximately $200M in 2021. That kind of multiple — from a cricket team, in under a half-decade — is not a story you keep quiet for long.

Word got out. The queue formed fast.

When Diageo decided to sell Royal Challengers Bengaluru in November 2025, labelling the franchise "non-core" to its alcohol business, the bidding process became the clearest signal yet of where global capital thinks cricket is headed.

Nine non-binding bids came in. The range: $1 billion to $1.8 billion — for a single cricket franchise that cost $111.6 million in 2008. A 16x multiple. In 17 years. From a sports franchise.

The shortlist: Avram Glazer (Lancer Capital) — co-owner of Manchester United and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — submitted a $1.8B bid. David Blitzer (Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment) — co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils — is in due diligence on both RCB and Rajasthan Royals. KKR (the private equity firm) and Blackstone are both evaluating stakes.

RCB's revenue was $56 million in 2024-25 — a 73% increase over three years. Rajasthan Royals posted a 136% revenue jump in the same period. These are not sports teams. These are high-yield entertainment assets with captive billion-person fan bases.

The IPL's revenue model is unusually attractive for institutional investors. BCCI centralises media rights and sponsorship income, takes 50%, and distributes the rest equally across all 10 franchises. In 2023, each franchise received approximately $55 million from the central pool alone — before a single ticket was sold or a single jersey sponsor was signed.

That $55M is a floor. A recurring, contractually guaranteed floor from a $6.2B media deal locked through 2027. For a PE firm used to building complicated revenue models, this is almost insulting in its simplicity.

Why This Is the World's Best Startup Story

Every startup pitch deck promises product-market fit, network effects, and recurring revenue. The IPL model delivers all three — at scale, in a two-month window, every year — with a zero-tax vehicle holding the cash.

Product-market fit: 1.4 billion potential fans in India. The product is culturally embedded. Zero customer acquisition cost for the base.

Recurring revenue: Broadcast deals are multi-year contracts. The 2023–2027 deal is $6.2B locked in. BCCI does not need to sell anything else to be financially stable for 5 years.

Network effects: More global leagues = more players = higher quality = higher viewership = higher broadcast fees. The IPL's global expansion is a network play, not philanthropy.

Franchise model = zero manufacturing cost: BCCI does not run the teams. Franchise owners do. BCCI collects fees, rights, and sponsorship — distributes 50% back. Platform business with minimal operational overhead.

Tax-free holding structure: All this revenue flows through a charity. The surplus is reinvested or held in cash. No corporate tax on earnings. No dividend tax on distributions. No capital gains on franchise value appreciation.

The IPL's platform model has a direct parallel in digital businesses. The OnlyFans Phenomenon is another case of a 42-person team building a platform worth billions by getting incentive alignment right from the start — and letting others do the value creation.

What Happens Next

Cricket is not done growing. It is in the early innings of global monetisation.

The USA is the next frontier. MLC launched in 2023 with IPL franchise backing. The 2024 T20 World Cup played in New York — and USA beat Pakistan. That one match had hundreds of millions of viewers. The USA is 340 million people who have barely heard of cricket. The people who own IPL franchises are already there.

Saudi Arabia is circling. Vision 2030 money is looking at franchise cricket the way it looked at golf and boxing. The question is not if Saudi money enters cricket. It is which board controls the terms when it does.

The women's game is a new machine. WPL 2025-26 saw sponsorship revenue grow 10-20% at franchise level. RCB just became the only franchise to simultaneously hold the IPL and WPL titles — and that double championship is part of why the Glazers are willing to write a $1.8 billion cheque.

The ownership transfer underway right now — Glazer, Blitzer, Blackstone, Poonawalla all bidding for a single franchise — is the clearest proof that the IPL has crossed the threshold from domestic sports league to global alternative asset class. Whatever the price, it will set a new benchmark for every subsequent IPL transaction.

And BCCI's tax-free structure? The Bombay High Court ruled in February 2025 that the Income Tax Department cannot challenge it through informal communications. They must use the statutory process. Nobody has successfully triggered that process yet.

A $2.5 billion cash pile. Zero income tax. $230M a year from the ICC before a single franchise fee is collected. $16M per match in broadcast revenue from a two-month season. CVC made 350% in four years on a cricket team. The Glazers are bidding $1.8 billion for one franchise.

If someone pitched this as a startup, the VC would say the numbers don't make sense.

They do make sense. Cricket made them make sense.

Silicon Valley spent decades inventing platform businesses. Cricket boards did it accidentally. They built a global entertainment machine with franchise economics, recurring media revenue, and near-zero customer acquisition cost — and they did it with a bat, a ball, and 1.4 billion fans who never realised they were the platform.

Cricket is the world's best startup. It just chose not to call itself one. And it doesn't pay tax on saying so.