LEFT ARM OVER
NEIL MANTHORP: Global League may not bowl everyone over initially
‘Risk assessors will point to the fact that people have not watched cricket in meaningful numbers in Bloemfontein for 25 years, why now?’
If anybody had any doubt about the potential monetary value of Cricket SA’s new T20 Global League they may have been interested to note on Monday that the five-year broadcast rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL) were sold for $2.55bn. The initial 10-year rights period was sold for $1.65bn so the new owners, Star India, clearly felt that a 50% increase in cash for half the time was still good business. A Duff and Phelps valuation this year put the IPL’s total worth at $5.3bn, up from $4.2bn in 2016. It took a few years to get the IPL ball rolling and there have been casualties along the way, but it would appear to have unstoppable momentum now, a sporting behemoth which comes in at third place behind the NFL in the US and the English Premier League in which each fixture comes in at a net value of $23.43m and $13.15m respectively. IPL matches will now average out at a value of $8.92m. The Caribbean and Bangladesh premier leagues also had significant teething problems in making th...
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