Delhi Capitals CEO and IPL First Tournament Director Dhiraj Malhotra analyzes the strong interest in acquiring the WPL team.
Last year he said the importance of overhauling IPL media rights cannot be overemphasized. At first glance, BCCI, the governing body of cricket in India, started making more than three times as much profit from the league as he did.
Additionally, BCCI made significant profits in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) Franchise Property Auction. This is due to the strength of this earnings that has acted as a safety valve for the IPL team and has attracted non-IPL candidates.
Seven of his existing IPL teams have submitted bids, and three of the five winners will have his IPL team run the show. “Thanks to the new IPL media rights cycle, I can now afford to place a bet [on the WPL]. You can take a little bit more risk than people who have not participated in,” said Dhiraj Malhotra Capitals, CEO of Delhi. DC offers him Rs 810 crore in his 10 years.
Malhotra was also the IPL’s first Tournament Director in 2008. “If you look at his IPL as a man, he didn’t make any money at all in his first seven or eight years. But the timetable was very clear. I knew I would eventually break even and make money. No one expected this kind of increase in sales, but it happened. I hope women’s cricket has the same curve… but now it’s a punt… hope. “
The only unknown when the IPL began was whether the franchise model would work. The T20 format began with the success of the first World T20, won by India. All participating cricketers had great star appeal.
In women’s cricket, the Indian team has yet to win a major trophy, but the most watched women’s match will come when India enters the knockout rounds of her ICC world competition.
“It wasn’t just a business decision. But we think it’s worth the risk,” said Malhotra. “We’re looking at a 10-year media rights cycle.”
His two most valuable leagues, India
WPL’s edge gained through market forces could also help BCCI to completely contain the competition. “The WPL is now his second most important league in the world after the IPL,” said BCCI Director Jay Shah. The Indian board can now again deliver the message to IPL franchise owners to ‘focus on the IPL and not on the rest of his T20 league’.
Four of his five team owners in the WPL (owners of MI, DC, Adani Group and Capri Global) are also investing in his T20 league competing with other boards. Much of their focus could shift to the WPL, not only to meet the league’s potential, but also to meet the high team acquisition costs.
The cash splashed on WPL bid day (Adani’s top bid of £12.89m) is probably not as much as it would have taken to win his IPL team (Lucknow Supergiants top bid of his £70.9m). No, but a significant amount. Higher than investments from other leagues (MI’s highest bid at SA20 is known to be around Rs 225 crore).
Co-owned by JSW and GMR, DC has teams in both ILT20 and SA20. When asked if WPL was more appealing, Malhotra agreed.