The world’s richest cricket body has just got richer – and has broken the Rs 11,000 crore mark. Yes, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now worth all of Rs 11,916.76 crore, according to the audited accounts and balance sheet of 2017-18, accessed exclusively by Outlook.
The BCCI is yet to release the 2017-18 audited accounts officially. They will be placed before the BCCI annual general body – the first such meeting since 2015, thanks to the seemingly endless litigation – in Mumbai on October 23 for its approval, before being released publicly.
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And, when the 2018-19 balance sheet is released, the Board will shatter the Rs 13,000 crore mark as it hosts 26 international matches this ongoing home season (the broadcast rights holder alone gives Rs 43.20 crore per international match). The BCCI’s net worth includes, amongst other things, its bank balance, fixed deposits, and fixed assets.
Earlier, the BCCI boasted of Rs 5,438.61 crore in 2014-15 and it was worth Rs 7,847.07 crore in 2015-16, the financial year in which it earned a colossal Rs 2,408.46 crore by hosting many international matches at home. Then, the BCCI broke the Rs 8,000 crore mark in 2016-17, the financial year in which its account books showed it was worth Rs 8,431.86 crore.
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But the proverbial floodgates opened in 2017-18. During this financial year – and even before it – riding on the superb performances of Virat Kohli’s national team across formats the Board earned an unprecedented Rs 3,484.90 crore as it hosted three Tests, 11 One-day Internationals, and eight T20 Internationals at home.
The BCCI earns its revenue mainly through four sources of income – media (broadcast) rights for bilateral series; national team (jersey) sponsor; series sponsor; and the media rights of the Indian Premier League. Let us look at Board’s income per match from these main sources during the financial year 2017-18.
STAR India pays the BCCI Rs 43.20 crore per international match (Tests, ODIs, and T20s) played in India during the sponsorship period 2014-2018. Series sponsor PayTM gives Rs 2.42 crore per match; national team jersey sponsor Oppo furnishes Rs 4.61 crore per match (recently, Bangalore-based educational technology and online tutorial firm BYJU’S replaced Oppo for the rest of the sponsorship period ending on March 31, 2022); and SONY, the Japanese company that had won the IPL broadcast rights for the 2008-2017 period, had paid $918 million (till 2017 edition of IPL, which is taken into account for revenues earned in 2017-18). Further, the IPL stock went soaring last year as STAR India won its media rights with a historic bid of Rs 16,347.50 crore for five years (2019-2022), translating into Rs 54.5 crore per match.
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However, the BCCI’s income is not limited to the four sources of income mentioned above. It also earns handsome revenue from its three ‘official partners’ – Dream11, Pepsi, and Ambuja Cement.
For this windfall, all the credit goes to players and the Indian national team, which has not only performed brilliantly for the last few years, but also attracts sponsors with its glamour quotient. Cricketers deserve the kudos also because the BCCI administration has been in complete disarray since 2013 when the IPL betting-match-fixing case reached the courts. There have been several other complex issues that have sent the administration for a big six. All this also proves that when stalwarts like Mahendra Singh, Kohli, and Rohit Sharma are in the same XI, you don’t have to employ a marketing genius to bring in sponsors. As the numbers illustrate above, corporate houses scramble to invest in the Indian team.
