The Indian Premier League cricket tournament’s business value has climbed to $20.6 billion, up 11.4% year over year, according to Houlihan Lokey’s 2026 IPL Valuation Study released Wednesday, as record-setting sales of Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals reset franchise pricing across the league.
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The league’s stand-alone brand value rose 10.3% to $4.3 billion, marking a second consecutive year of double-digit growth for both metrics. The report placed the 2026 figures in historical context: the IPL’s business value stood at $15.4 billion in 2023, $16.4 billion in 2024 and $18.5 billion in 2025. On a per-match basis, Houlihan Lokey noted, only the NFL ranks ahead of the IPL globally.
The 2026 season’s defining commercial event was the sale of two franchises. Royal Challengers Bengaluru was acquired in March by a consortium including the Aditya Birla Group, the Times of India Group, David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures and Blackstone’s BXPE for $1.78 billion, the most expensive single IPL franchise transaction on record. The deal, in an all-cash structure, came after seller United Spirits Limited had targeted $2 billion. Rajasthan Royals followed in May, sold to the Mittal family and Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla for $1.65 billion, after an initial agreement with a U.S.-based consortium led by Kal Somani collapsed during exclusivity. Together the two deals total $3.43 billion.
“The most telling development this year did not come from our models; it came from the market. Two franchises changed hands – Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for $1.78 billion and Rajasthan Royals (RR) for $1.65 billion – and the buyers, from Blackstone and the Aditya Birla Group to ArcelorMittal, the Serum Institute, and the global sports investor David Blitzer, are precisely the caliber of capital we have long argued the league was built to attract,” said Harsh Talikoti, director in Houlihan Lokey’s financial and valuation advisory business.
The report found viewership undergoing what it called a platform migration rather than a decline. Total reach across television and digital hit 1.06 billion screens, up 7% year over year, even as linear television ratings fell 18.8% and average per-match viewership on television dropped 26%. Total IPL 2026 revenue projections, including broadcasting rights, sponsorships and ticket sales, exceed $1.8 billion.
At the franchise level, RCB topped both the brand value and business value rankings for the first time in league history, its brand worth rising 16% to $312 million on the strength of back-to-back IPL and Women’s Premier League titles. Mumbai Indians ranked second at $264 million despite a ninth-place finish, while Kolkata Knight Riders overtook Chennai Super Kings for the No. 3 brand spot at $245 million. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals rounded out the top six, both securing playoff berths, while Lucknow Super Giants finished last on both business and brand value at $122 million following Rishabh Pant’s decision to step down as captain.
Satyan Gajwani, co-owner of Royal Challengers Bengaluru and chair of Times Internet, said the franchise’s fan engagement drove the acquisition decision. “RCB’s fanbase intensity and connection are unparalleled, which made this a special opportunity,” Gajwani said.
Ness Wadia, co-owner of Punjab Kings and one of the league’s founding investors since 2008, said the IPL remains in its early stages of growth. “I still think the IPL is only getting started,” Wadia said.
Beyond the headline transactions, the report examined what it described as the league’s structural appeal to private equity relative to other global sports properties. The BCCI places no cap on private equity ownership of an IPL franchise and imposes no minimum hold period, in contrast with the NFL’s 10% per-fund limit, the NBA’s 20% cap and the Bundesliga’s 50+1 rule limiting outside investors to a 49% economic interest. Each franchise also receives roughly $55 million annually from the BCCI’s centrally negotiated media pool before any team-level revenue is counted, a structure the report likened to a contracted annuity.
Non-media revenue such as team sponsorships, gate receipts and international expansion is also growing quickly. Houlihan Lokey said non-media revenues have expanded at a 22% compound annual rate since the pandemic, with several IPL owners acquiring stakes in England’s The Hundred, including Reliance Industries’ purchase of a stake in Oval Invincibles and Sun Group’s acquisition of Northern Superchargers.
Houlihan Lokey projected the league’s 2028-32 media rights cycle, currently valued at $6.2 billion, could grow by 80% to 100%, citing an uninterrupted 18% compound annual growth rate in rights value since 2008 and expanding international viewership.
That estimate cuts against a separate forecast from Media Partners Asia, which projected in a March report that the 2028–32 cycle would instead hold flat at approximately $5.4 billion, with per-match value declining 13%, from $13.2 million to $11.5 million, as the league’s expanded 94-match format dilutes individual game value. MPA attributed the flattening to the JioStar merger of Viacom18 and Disney Star, which it said removed the competitive tension between bidders that drove the 2022 auction’s near-threefold increase, and warned that rights holders in the current cycle face cumulative losses of $1.8–2 billion.