The fights for streaming and sports broadcast rights are no mystery for American sports fans. Football rights have fascinating multiplayer fights on a consistent basis, as does baseball, with hockey recently enjoying a war of its own. India is no different as the IPL cricket league’s rights are up after 2022, which spurred New York investment firm RedBird Capital to purchase a 15 percent stake of the Rajasthan Royals at a $250 million valuation.
“The IPL is a dynamic league with a global audience and forward-thinking mindset regarding fan and player engagement,” RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale said in a release at the time. “The Royals have contributed to this progressive approach, and we look forward to further supporting its on-field sporting performance, business operations and contributions to its community.”
Hotstar, a subsidiary of Disney, purchased the IPL rights in 2017, on a five-year $2.55 billion deal, more than five times the previous deal. So what does that mean for the upcoming rights, and what could be their value to Hotstar? JohnWallStreet of Sportico put it into perspective earlier Wednesday.
“Considering those numbers, there is a strong argument that IPL rights are more important to Disney+ Hotstar in India than the Star Wars franchise is to Disney+ in the U.S. (at least on an relative basis). Around 30-40% of all Disney+ subscribers are located in the South Asian country, a large portion of which is paying for Disney+ Hotstar because it has the rights to IPL matches. Should Star India lose the broadcast rights, Cohen says many of those subscribers would migrate to the new rights holder (probably not the case if the Star Wars franchise were to leave Disney+).”
Costs have been cut by Disney’s ESPN on the talent side, but streaming and broadcast rights have been a full-go for the Worldwide Leader. ESPN currently holds Monday Night Football from the NFL, MLB rights, NBA rights, and recently made significant investments into UFC and the NHL. It will be interesting to see just what force the company chooses to put forward in the upcoming IPL negotiations.