Cricket

Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani, two of the world's richest men, are set for another clash. This time the fight is over media rights to the Super Bowl of ...

The tycoons are preparing aggressive game plans to ensure a win, according to people familiar with the matter. Other fierce competitors include Walt Disney Co., which held the rights until this year’s just-concluded season, and Sony Group Corp. Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani, two of the world’s richest men, are set for another clash.

The ICC CEO, Geoff Allardice, spoke about the plan to grow the game, tournaments in the pipeline and more...

But they have to upgrade within the environment in their country and we will try and work with them to get a result in that area in terms of developing women’s cricket. There are challenges around the women’s game given some of the government’s policies that have been announced, but we want to support our members and see how we can plan around the opportunity to develop the women’s game. The opportunity to grow the women’s game is an important part of the strategy, plus providing playing opportunities to more members in major events. We have finalised the men’s venue up to 2031 but we are in the process of identifying venues for the first four years of women’s events. I’m sure the business models of the historically strong full members will continue to be very successful in the future. We are able to get a lot of girls playing the game at school and being able to transition them through various squads into senior cricket and retain them in the game and provide a career path in the future. We have a number of events in 2023 — one in the West Indies, USA in 2024 — so that’s what we are focusing on. While we facilitate the construction of the FTP, each member is open to schedule bilateral cricket and we try to structure around that. So, in a lot of countries the U-19 World Cup will provide the focus for a development pathway, particularly with the younger players. It is always a balance between the time for ICC events, the time for international bilateral cricket, and the time for domestic leagues. When we look at the next cycle and look at expanding teams in both men and women’s tournaments, we want to broaden the focus for all the teams — including the associate members — within a three-year period. What are plans to make the current cycle more relevant and interesting so that the format survives?

MUMBAI : U.S. tech behemoth Amazon will not bid for rights to telecast India's premier league cricket, projected to be worth more than 500 billion rupees ...

Advertisement Advertisement

Last month more than 100,000 people packed India's Narendra Modi stadium to watch the Indian Premier League cricket final, with rising star Shubman Gill ...

Few major sporting tournaments in the world are dominated by tycoons and companies as much as Indian Premier League cricket. This weekend's auction of the ...

Such concentration of power may not hurt the game but it’s the least flattering reflection of corporate India in the league. Of course, that will leave Ambani’s conglomerate owning both the cricket rights and the Mumbai Indians, the most successful IPL team. India is the fastest-growing hub for the House of Mouse but losing the IPL could force the U.S. company’s boss Bob Chapek to kiss his subscriber gains goodbye. Reliance, especially, will be in the spotlight. In addition to Diageo’s Royal Challengers, Mukesh Ambani’s $240 billion Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) is owner of the Mumbai Indians, the $2.2 billion Sun TV Network (SUTV.NS) owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the $650 million India Cements (ICMN.NS) is the roughly 30% shareholder of the unlisted Super Kings. With merchandise sales in India still in its infancy, some 70% of team revenue depends on the broadcasting rights. Each franchise ultimately keep about 40% of the headline amount and the Board of Control for Cricket in India takes the rest. CVC’s acquisition of one of them set the floor price at $725 million at current exchange rates. Just as in the country’s stuffy conglomerates, there’s clear value to unlock from rejigging ownership. A crowd of some 100,000 people turned out for the final in late May at the Narendra Modi Stadium, named after the prime minister. RCB is now perhaps worth about one tenth of the listed Indian parent’s market value. This weekend’s auction of the competition’s broadcast rights for the next five years could fetch as much as $6.5 billion, three times what Walt Disney’s (DIS.N) Star India paid in 2017.

By Saritha Rai and P R Sanjai Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani, two of the world's richest men, are set for another clash. This time the fight is over media ...

“Amazon took commerce and built the Prime Video content business on top of it,” Pathak said. Drawing more than half-a-billion viewers, the annual IPL tournament trails only English soccer and the National Football League in popularity globally, according to its organizer, the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Aggressive bidders like Reliance and Amazon could come with an “open purse,” making the price nonviable in terms of future ad revenue returns, the person said. The final numbers are likely to exceed $1 billion per year for the much-coveted rights, they said. The retail titan has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on European soccer rights, and has forged a deal to broadcast Thursday Night Football in the US at $1 billion a season until 2033. Most recently, the two companies were engaged in a bitter legal dispute over the control of struggling local retailer Future Group. Neither succeeded. For the first time, BCCI will auction IPL’s broadcast and streaming rights separately. The IPL is a multiweek tournament typically held in April and May every year. The US entertainment giant has much to lose if it fails to retain the rights it inherited three years ago from the $71 billion acquisition of Fox. The purchase came with Hotstar, a streaming service popular among cricket fans, giving an instant boost to Disney’s relatively new position in the Indian market. Now, with more and more Indians watching content online, including on smartphones, digital rights are expected to bag a hefty premium. The tycoons are preparing aggressive game plans to ensure a win, according to people familiar with the matter. Jeff Bezos and Mukesh Ambani, two of the world’s richest men, are set for another clash.

Amazon.com Inc. is planning to withdraw from a heated competition for the rights to stream Indian Premier League cricket matches, ceding one of the world's ...

The rights had been estimated to fetch an unprecedented $7.7 billion. The US giant, led by Jeff Bezos, is planning to throw in the towel rather than get into a bidding war at the June 12 auction, according to people familiar with the matter.