VENKY MYSORE, chief executive officer of Knight Riders Group and Red Chillies Entertainment, believes India’s cricket economy is only at the beginning of its financial potential, despite the growing billion-dollar valuations.
“People are talking about the valuations of IPL teams, but essentially, what has happened is people talk about billion-dollar valuations… We have literally just scratched the surface because cricket has been around for the longest time,” Mysore said in his keynote address at FICCI FRAMES 2025.
He further added, “I will give you a parallel, as we have set up a team in LA (Los Angeles). In LA, there are two football teams, there is a baseball team, two basketball teams, there’s an ice hockey team, and then there’s Major League Soccer (MLS), all in one city. Here, the lowest valuation of any team is a billion dollars, while the highest valuation is almost $5 billion.”
“While the product and model (of cricket economy) have evolved to a point where everyone understands the power of it, there’s a lot of investment that is going to come into it. I genuinely believe it will transcend into other sports and create an ecosystem for the media and entertainment industry,” he added.
Mysore’s remarks come amid reports that Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla is in talks with Diageo, the owners of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), over a potential acquisition valued at approximately $2 billion.
Highlighting the global attention that Indian cricket commands, Mysore pointed out that the IPL 2025 final attracted nearly 169 million television viewers, surpassing the Super Bowl’s 155 million. He also observed that in today’s landscape, athletes have become entertainers, and entertainment has become a cultural experience.
