Indian Sports Market Dominated by Cricket: IPL's Revenue Outshines ISL's

The financial architecture of Indian sports is currently defined by a profound “cricket-centric” concentration of capital. As of February 2026, the contrast between the Indian Premier League (IPL ) and the Indian Super League (ISL) has reached a point where the broadcast value of a single IPL match exceeds the entire annual media revenue of the ISL. The IPL’s current five-year cycle (2023-2027) is valued at ₹48,390 crore, or approximately Rs 9,678 crore annually. This translates to a per-match value of Rs 118 crore ($14.61 million). In stark contrast, the ISL media rights for the 2025-26 season were recently finalised for a net receipt of approximately Rs 2.87 crore by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Under the latest agreement, FanCode secured the rights for a total bid of Rs 8.62 crore, from which Rs 5.75 crore is deducted for production costs managed by KPS Studio. When measured against the IPL’s annual valuation, the ISL’s media rights generate roughly 0.019% of the revenue of its cricketing counterpart, effectively placing the IPL’s worth at over 5,500 times that of the ISL. Several analytical factors contribute to this skewed ratio, rooted in market consolidation and advertiser ROI: Monopsony in broadcasting : The merger of Disney Star and Reliance’s Viacom18 into JioStar has created a near-monopsony in the Indian sports market. With the primary bidders for high-value sports consolidated into one entity, the AIFF’s bargaining power for non-cricketing properties has significantly diminished. Production cost ratios: In the IPL, production costs are a negligible fraction of the total rights fee. For the ISL, the cost of producing a “world-feed” (estimated at Rs 5.75 crore) now consumes nearly 67% of the total bid value, leaving very little “net revenue” for the league’s central pool. Advertising spot rates: During the 2025 IPL season, a 10-second television ad spot commanded between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, rising to Rs 40 lakh for the final. The ISL, conversely, struggles to monetise spots individually, often relying on bundled packages or “value-add” inventory to attract advertisers. Audience indexing: Cricket in India acts as a “mass-market” vehicle with a projected reach of over 500 million viewers on digital platforms. The ISL remains a “niche-market” property, with viewership largely concentrated in specific footballing pockets (West Bengal, Kerala, Northeast India), which limits its appeal to pan-India FMCG and tech brands. The current ratio serves as a critical indicator of the commercial challenges facing multi-sport development in India as it prepares to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and aims to host the 2036 Olympics. While the IPL has successfully transitioned into a global Tier-1 media property (second only to the NFL in per-match value), the ISL is currently in a “survivalist” phase, prioritising accessibility and basic production over high-value revenue generation.