BCCI waits on Agarkar decision; IPL 2027 auction in December

The International Cricket Council recently announced the formation of a five-member working group tasked with exploring various methods to maximize the value of their media rights for the 2028-31 cycle. The group will need to wait for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to first draft and release the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights tender.

The BCCI, usually a relatively inactive entity, has not yet taken any action on the matter. The ICC's media rights tender will not be the first of its kind, as the BCCI will also be affected by it. The BCCI secretary, Devajit Saikia, is currently on the ICC media rights working group, which is headed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief, Richard Thompson, and includes ICC chairman Jay Shah.

In 2022, the BCCI enlisted the help of financial advisory firm KPMG to draft the IPL tender document, which included a special non-exclusive digital-rights package for high-value matches in the Indian subcontinent. This package, available for 18 matches per season in a 74-game structure, generated Rs 3,273 crore in revenue, surpassing the traditional sale of TV rights for the first time.

Industry executives believe that the BCCI should explore new revenue models, such as those seen in the YouTube sports-bundling model in the United States, where the NFL Sunday Ticket generates significant income. They argue that the value of IPL media rights could be tremendous if the BCCI investigates these changing revenue patterns and models.

The BCCI members are expected to attend their annual general meeting in Mumbai, where the subject of media rights should be a primary topic of discussion.