The IPL’s coming $5 billion squeeze
Media Partners Asia expects a 94-match IPL to fetch Rs 48,500 crore, flat overall and 13% lower per match. One credible buyer leaves the BCCI bargaining over everything beyond the cheque.
By the second weekend of October, there was scarcely a hotel room left in Singapore, from Tanjong Pagar, where I was staying, to Orchard Road and Marina Bay. Smoke from fires in Indonesia had drifted across the water. By late afternoon, the towers across the bay were barely visible.
After dark, Formula 1 cut through the haze. The circuit curled for almost five kilometres through the city, past offices, hotels and the bay. White light pooled on the fencing as the cars passed in a shriek, scattering sparks across streets that carried taxis and buses on an ordinary weekend.
One American visitor said he had lost count of how many flights he had taken to reach Singapore. South Africans and Indians, Britons and Australians walked the closed roads in team shirts and caps. Singaporeans wore them while shopping or eating dinner. At Changi Airport on Saturday, as I made my way back to Bengaluru, travellers gathered around a screen to watch the racing before their flights.
Singapore staged Formula 1’s first night race in 2008, and the event now fills hotels, restaurants and concert venues across the city. Media rights accounted for 31% of Formula 1’s revenue in 2025, while race promoters, sponsors, hospitality and other businesses provided most of the rest. That Friday, a short drive from the track, Vivek Couto, chief executive and executive director of Media Partners Asia (MPA), opened APOS Sports Edge, the firm’s sports-business conference. His presentation put India’s commercial sports revenue at $2.76 billion in 2026, of which media rights account for $1.99 billion, or 72%. Across Asia Pacific, media contributes $6.1 billion of $16.2 billion, or 37%.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) earns about $12.4 million per match, a price comparable with the Premier League. MPA expects its 2028-32 rights to fetch about Rs 48,500 crore if the league expands from 74 to 94 matches a season, roughly level with the current deal’s Rs 48,390 crore but down from Rs 118 crore to Rs 103 crore per match.
India’s richest sporting property may therefore go to market with more games, the same total value and one company capable of paying it. Rather than bidding up the cheque, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may have to bargain over what JioStar receives for it, what remains outside the contract and who gets to know the fan.
JioStar holds the IPL rights and the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) India rights until 2027, and India’s home rights until early 2028. The next round of negotiations could decide the future of India’s home calendar.
