A few weeks back Sportynomics had done a couple of write ups on the ten most valuable teams on the planet and another one on Apollo Tyres sponsoring the national cricket team’s jersey. News has just broken in that Diageo, the owners of Royal Challengers Bangalore, want to sell their stake completely and are looking at a valuation of around $2 billion (1.73 billion euros) for the same.

This, in our opinion, could be an absolute game changing moment for the Indian Premier League and cricket as a sport in general. Now, as of today, the five most valuable football clubs in the world are:

1. Real Madrid- $6.7 billion
2. Manchester United – $6 billion
3. Barcelona- $5.65 billion
4. Liverpool – $ 5.4 billion
5. Manchester City – $5.2 billion

Compared to a Liverpool, you can see this is less than half of what Liverpool is valued at. But if we analyse further, you can see that if this deal goes through, the dynamics of the Indian Premier League will change forever. Let me tell you why.  Firstly, football is the most popular sport on the planet and will continue it domination at least for the next 50 years. Secondly, Liverpool is an institution in not only English but world football. The history, the tradition that goes back to when they won their first domestic cup in 1965 till the most recent league triumph in 2024-25, makes them the most successful club in England. The fan base of Liverpool is second to none. So, it’s understandable that the club commands a valuation of $5.4 billion.

If we take a look at RCB—the league commenced in 2008. It has won just one IPL trophy, which proved to be a watershed moment for the franchise. However, in the 17 years, they are one of the most searched teams across all sport on the internet. Their star player, Virat Kohli, is the most followed man in Asia on Instagram. And the passion of their fan base is second to none. The average figures of people tuning into an RCB encounter is actually mind boggling. The sporting world puts the Super Bowl as the event of the century. I think they’ve overlooked the impact of the finals of the Indian Premier League and the number it has racked up.

Considering the age of the league and the teams in it and the fact that cricket has just got into league sports in the last 18 years, the numbers are fantastic. All in all, it’s a fair valuation and to quote Lalit Modi, the architect of the IPL, this deal will become the new floor price for all the teams in the league. We are quite sure Adar Poonawalla, the man touted to take over the franchise, has run the numbers and he too feels it’s a price worth paying.