new delhi the indian premier league has made millionaires out of young players generated invaluable publicity for team owners and made the national cricket board one of the richest governing bodies in global sportthe worlds most valuable cricket tournament now in its 15th iteration and boasting the likes of virat kohli pat cummins and jos buttler was a pioneer in twenty20 league cricketits success and popularity has spawned copycat competitions in other countries and generated a fortune for the board of control for cricket in india bccithe highoctane bighitting carnival provides a mustsee product driving broadcast subscriptions by the millions and pulling in huge advertising revenuesome businesses are willing to splash out nearly 1 billion just to get a chance to field a team on the ipls golden wicketwhen the tournament expanded to 10 teams this year from the original eight the auction for the rights to own the new franchises drew international bidders including the glazer family who own manchester unitedthey were ultimately beaten out by indian tycoon sanjiv goenkas rpsg conglomerate who paid the bcci 930 million to form the lucknow super giantsthe second new franchise the gujarat titans cost the global venture fund cvc capital 690 millionthe sums are eyewatering for teams that will only play two months a year but simon chadwick a sports economy professor at the emlyon business school in france told afp that it was worth the investmentthe ipl is already a massive commercial opportunity but given indias economic growth expanding middle class and massive potential as a market for digital it will potentially become even more lucrative said chadwickbroadcast rights are the bccis biggest moneyspinnerstar india owned by disney paid 255 billion for a fiveyear television and digital rights deal that expires at the end of this seasonanalysts expect the next package for 20232027 to balloon to as much as 66 billion reports say the league will also earn the bcci around 130 million in sponsorship this year alonetitle sponsor tata the indian steeltobroadcast conglomerate is the biggest contributor with others including finance apps an online education firm and a fantasy gaming sitethe bcci earned 533 million from the ipl in 2020 treasurer arun dhumal told indian media but its finances are cloaked in secrecythe last annual report on its website is for 201617 but reports say a subsequent filing put its net worth at 2 billionipl teams receive a share of the television rights and sponsorship money and around 10 to 15 percent of ticket salesthey can also generate their own revenue through lucrative shirt or other sponsorshipsi have always said that cricket is recession proof dhiraj malhotra chief executive of the delhi capitals told afpeven last season which saw the league suspended and later moved to the united arab emirates because of the pandemic he said we have fared really wellbusiness executive neelima burra has been involved in several ipl sponsorship deals with cargill foods sewingmachine maker usha and hewlettpackardit has been a great symbiotic relationship between the brands and