RCB Sale: Delhi Capitals co-owner joins race to acquire IPL 2025 champions

Earlier in the month, we heard that Adar Poonawalla, owner and chief executive officer (CEO) of Serum Institute of India, wishes to acquire the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The current owners of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, British spirits giant Diageo PLC, aren’t keen on continuing with RCB. They label it as a ‘non-core business entity’.

RCB Sale: Interest from DC co-owner and WPL team owner

It turns out that Poonawalla isn’t the only one interested. According to Cricbuzz, several other bigwigs, six to be exact, are keen to onboard the RCB express. The biggest name among them is Parth Jindal of the Jindal South West (JSW) Group, co-owner of the Delhi Capitals (DC).

JSW, together with the Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao (GMR) Group, owns DC. This move by Jindal would mean that he would have to forfeit all stake in the Delhi franchise. That way, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) might have to find another potential buyer for the IPL team or hope that GMR acquires it itself.

But Jindal isn’t the only franchise owner interested. Adani Group, which bid for the Gujarat Titans in 2021 but couldn’t manage to acquire it, has shown interest in RCB as well. Adani Group currently owns the Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and is keen to join the IPL.

However, evaluation remains an issue. Diageo has been quoting $2 billion (INR 17,859 crore approximately) as the selling price. But Poonawala wasn’t very certain of that figure. “At the right valuation, @RCBTweets is a great team,” Poonawala had written on X (formerly Twitter) on October 1.

Acquisition price

IPL’s ecosystem value has started to wane. Since 2023, it’s declined by INR 16,400 crore. This started due to Star and Jio. The two media giants, combining for one, have seen media rights stagnate since no one can match their power. While digital media giants like Netflix and Amazon are expected to jump in for online media rights, nothing’s guaranteed at the moment.

The introduction of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill 2025 has seen INR 1,500 to 2,000 crore wiped out in annual ad and sponsorship revenue for the IPL and BCCI. Its future ramifications can’t be judged right now.

One positive sign is that JioStar will soon announce a subscription model for the IPL. About 50 crore users might sign up for that, and depending on the price, that could significantly increase the revenue for the league. We are also expected to see the number of matches increase from 74 to 96, and the IPL running for 3 months in the coming years.

Despite the eradication of the online gaming industry and decline in media rights, the $2 billion figure for acquiring RCB might just be right.

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