In the latest development, Alphabet Inc, the owner of search-engine Google, has reportedly shown interest in bidding to claim the broadcasting and digital rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
According to reports published in Bloomberg, the US-based tech company has bought the tender documents from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The BCCI will be conducting an auction to acquire broadcast and digital rights of one of the world's most lucrative and most-watched leagues for the 2023-2027 cycle from June 12.
If Google does end up throwing its hat in the ring, it will face stiff competition from fellow bidding players like Amazon, Reliance Industries Ltd, fantasy app Dream11, current right holders, Star India, and Sony.
The IPL remains one of the biggest money-spinners in modern sports. Third, only in terms of viewership after Premier League and National Football League, the tournament racked in as many as 600 million viewers in the last edition.
The league is currently valued at $7 billion, and recently it added two new franchises- the Sanjeev Goenka-owned Lucknow Supergiants and Adani Group-owned Gujarat Titans- for a whopping $1.2 billion.
Star India are the current holder of both broadcast and digital rights. They had shelled out Rs 16,347 crore back in 2018 for four years.
Unlike last time, the BCCI will be auctioning the digital and broadcast rights separately.
However, this time, those in the market have estimated that the rights could be sold for close to Rs 50,000 crore, underpinning the progress that the T20 league has made in the last five years, despite the global pandemic.
The 15th season is nearly at its business end. The group stage will culminate on May 22, and Kolkata and Ahmedabad will host the playoffs between May 24 and 29.