Pune, Vadodara may get billion-dollar IPL franchises

The IPL could be heading for its biggest expansion since 2022, with Vadodara and Pune emerging as possible homes for new franchises from the 2028 media-rights cycle. 

India's flagship cricket competition, the Indian Premier League (IPL), could soon have more teams vying for the trophy. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which runs the league, is looking to add at least two teams from the 2028 media rights cycle, with Vadodara and Pune among the cities in the fray, according to two people familiar with the plans, who asked not to be identified as the deliberations are private.

With investor interest for one of the world's most valuable sporting properties at an all-time high, each new franchise could be valued at over $1 billion, said a third person in the know.

Private equity firm Permira, Asian state-backed investment entities, sovereign wealth funds from West Asia, major family-owned Indian conglomerates, US-based family offices, and ultra high net worth individuals in India are said to be evaluating potential bids or minority equity investments in the two teams, said the person cited above.

Permira declined to respond to Mint's emailed queries, while there was no response from BCCI until press time.

State push

Gujarat has seen a considerable push for development in sectors, including sports.

"There is a clear push for Ahmedabad to become a sports hub. Hence, there is expected to be another team from Gujarat from Vadodara," said one of the persons quoted above. Vadodara is just about 110 km from Ahmedabad, which is the home ground for the Gujarat Titans, the sole IPL team of the western state.

In a 4 September government release, Union home minister Amit Shah, who hails from Gujarat, said Ahmedabad is being developed as an international training hub amid ambitions of hosting the 2036 Olympic Games.

As for Pune in Maharashtra, the city has a historical association with domestic and international cricket. As for IPL, Pune has had two stints. First was the Sahara Group-owned Pune Warriors India that played between 2011 and 2013. It had exited the league following financial disputes with the BCCI over franchise fees.

The city later hosted Rising Pune Supergiant, owned by the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, as a temporary franchise during the 2016-17 seasons, when Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended. The team was the runner-up in 2017, losing the final to the other Maharashtra team Mumbai Indians by one run. The league was then disbanded following the return of the suspended franchises.

But beyond finding new cities and investors, the challenge will be whether there are enough Indian cricket stars to lead the new teams and draw fans, even with international players in the mix.

“A factor that could come in the way is if Indian cricket currently has enough star players that can carry fan following for newer teams,” said the person quoted above.

Proposals for the new franchises are in very early stages yet, and the host cities can change, or more teams can be added, depending on investor interest, said the people.

The IPL, an annual short-form domestic cricket league, took off in 2008 with eight teams, and it currently has 10 franchises competing for the title.

The league had last expanded ahead of the 2022 season, when two franchises were added through a tender. The RPSG Group picked up the Lucknow Super Giants for $940 million, while private equity firm CVC Capital Partners took the Gujarat Titans for $750 million. The Mehta family's Torrent Group later acquired a controlling 67% stake in the Gujarat team for around $575 million in 2025.

Pricey deals

The plan to add more teams follows transactions this year that established higher valuation benchmarks across the league.

Diageo Plc's India subsidiary United Spirits Ltd agreed to sell Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a consortium of the Aditya Birla Group, the Times of India owner Bennet Coleman and Co, Blackstone Inc. and Bolt Ventures at a valuation of $1.78 billion.

For perspective, the RCB deal exceeded the combined value of the Lucknow and Ahmedabad IPL franchises— ₹12,715 crore (about $1.69 billion)—sold by the BCCI in 2021. RCB was originally bought for $111.6 million in 2008 by liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

In a separate transaction, a consortium led by the Lakshmi Mittal family and Adar Poonawalla, acquired Rajasthan Royals in a deal valuing the asset at $1.65 billion.

Foreign interest in the IPL is also growing. While New York's Blackstone and Luxembourg's CVC have holdings in RCB and Gujarat Titans, respectively, other firms such as Sweden's EQT Group, US-based KKR, Singapore's Temasek and Swiss major Partners Group are evaluating minority and majority stakes across franchises such as Rajasthan and Bengaluru.

Soaring interest

The proposed timing for the addition of new teams coincides with the launch of the IPL's 2028–2032 media rights cycle.

The current 2023–2027 cycle marked a landmark moment for the business of global sports broadcasting. The rights were sold by the BCCI for an astronomical sum of $6.2 billion, in a deal that made the IPL the second most valuable sports property in the world per match, trailing the iconic American football league NFL.

In this media cycle, the BCCI unbundled TV and digital rights to the matches for the first time. Star Sports secured the domestic television rights, while Mukesh Ambani's Viacom18 won the domestic digital rights.

The IPL's soaring popularity has attracted global interest, as investors look to cash in on its commercial appeal.

“The addition of newer teams is also subject to how streaming platforms view it, as it will increase the per match bills by a couple million dollars,” said the first person quoted above.

In an interview with the Financial Times in March, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal had said any addition of new teams would depend on the availability of a larger window in the cricket calendar, factoring in bilateral series and ICC events.

According to a Houlihan Lokey report of July, the value of the IPL as a business has risen to $20.6 billion, up 11.4% year-on-year, marking a second consecutive year of double-digit growth. Meanwhile, the IPL's standalone brand value rose 10.3% to $4.3 billion, having added more than $1.1 billion in value since 2023.

Cricket's evolution into a globally-owned, institutionally-backed asset class has accelerated this year, with the IPL continuing to redefine the global sports landscape, said Harsh Talikoti, director in Houlihan Lokey's Financial and Valuation Advisory business said in the report.

"What the market confirmed this year, through landmark franchise transactions, is the extent to which the league can attract precisely the calibre of global, institutional, and strategic capital it was built to draw."

About the Authors

Agnidev is a business journalist with over two years of reporting experience tracking the intersection of capital, policy, and corporate strategy in India.<br><br>He joined Mint in December 2025, after a stint at NDTV Profit (erstwhile BQ Prime). At Mint, Agnidev focuses on the high-stakes world of the Indian capital market, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, burgeoning IPOs, and the investment banking industry.<br><br>Backed by a rigorous, data-driven approach, Agnidev frequently breaks news on the valuation cycles, deal pipelines and listing strategies of India’s most prominent companies. His reportage offers deep dives into the operational health of market leaders across the corporate landscape, providing readers with a clear-eyed view of institutional growth.<br><br>He has reported on major issues like India's derivatives frenzy, IPO froth, the competitive quick commerce industry, the real-money gaming ban, and has broken investigative stories related to scandals such as IndusInd Bank's accounting manipulation and the Gensol-BluSmart fiasco.<br><br>As a reporter, he brings stories that ultimately affect your stock market investments, and tries to bring clarity and brevity in a field that is often filled with jargon and noise.

Mansi Verma is a senior correspondent covering private capital in India for Mint. Think of strategy shifts, private equity and venture capital deals, the companies trying to go public, and occasionally, the ones falling apart.<br><br>She moved into this beat in 2022, and has been following it closely since. Prior to Mint, Mansi worked at Moneycontrol, where she covered jobs and edtech, reporting extensively on the 2022–2024 startup and IT layoffs cycle. Her work during this period focused on what happens to fast-growing companies when capital dries up, combining financial reporting with human-interest stories.<br><br>Mansi reported closely on Byju’s during a critical phase in its unravelling, and has since built a strong understanding of edtech businesses, particularly unicorns, and the deeper structural challenges in education that many of them have struggled to solve. At Mint, she follows the flow of capital across VC and PE deals, exits and IPO pipelines, while also tracking large investment firms, and the financial services sector.<br><br>Outside of the newsroom, Mansi spends time exploring how technology is changing the way people think and work, while actively attempting to build a critical thinking human brain in the age of short-form everything.<br><br>She holds a Master’s degree in journalism and has moderated industry discussions on financial services and investments.