Bids for India Cricket Rights Touch $6 Billion on Auction Day 1
- Amazon pulled out leaving Reliance, Disney, Sony in the fray
- Intense bidding especially for online streaming rights
The bus of Indian Premier League's (IPL) Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai.
Photographer: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
The auction of broadcast rights for India’s coveted cricket league saw heated competition on the first day as bids went past 450 billion rupees ($5.8 billion), according to people familiar with the proceedings.
The sum offered by the end of Sunday for the Indian Premier League’s rights already exceeded the floor price of 328 billion rupees set by India’s cricket board and is nearly three times what the sport’s local governing body got in the last auction in 2017. Bidding will resume Monday.