The twelfth season Indian Premier League fever is at an all time high with the season coming to its most crucial stage. In terms of valuation, the league was worth $6.3 billion last year according to Duff & Phelps. After over a decade of being in showbiz, IPL is bigger and better than ever. This year, the viewership has also increased by a record 31% to 219 million as compared to 2018.
Naturally, the ones to benefit the most from the vast following of IPL are the team owners. Here is a lowdown of 8 IPL owners teams. It is important to note that we’ll only be talking about the main stakeholders:
8Chennai Super Kings
Owner: N. Srinivasan | Net worth: $70 million
Chennai Super Kings is known to be a very strong team with three IPL trophies on their plate. The owner of this team is the former BCCI President N. Srinivasan’s India Cements. It was only India Cements initially and later changed to a separate entity (owned by the same person) named Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd. Indian industrialist Srinivasan is also a former Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the managing director of India Cements Limited.
Adding to this, he is the president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) and the Tamil Nadu Golf Federation and former President of the All India Chess Federation.
CSK’s renowned player MS Dhoni spoke at the launch of a book on N Srinivasan in Chennai that the time he has spent with the former BCCI president helped him understand how to deal with failure and success in life.
7Delhi Capitals
Owner: Sajjan Jindal | Net worth: $5.1 billion
Delhi Capitals, previously called Delhi Daredevils will play its first match in this 12th IPL season with a new name. The franchise has never won an IPL title and is owned by GM Rao-owned GMR Group.
Mr. G.M Rao owns a famous infrastructural company GMR Group, headquartered in Bangalore.
In 2007, GM Rao received the Economic Times Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2013,Chin he donated ₹ 740 Crores and was the third generous donor of corporate India for the year as per China’s Harun Report. Last year, the franchise sold its 50% stakes to JSW Sports.
GM Rao’s son, Kiran Gandhi is seen supporting their team every now and then at the team’s matches.
6Kings XI Punjab
Owners: Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Mohit Burman and others | Net worth: $30 million, $1.6 billion, $5.8 billion
Kings XI Punjab is another of those franchises which are yet to win an IPL title since the last 11 years. The franchise is owned by a group including Bollywood actress Priety Zinta, Ness Wadia (Wadia Group), Mohit Burman (Dabur India Ltd.), The Oberoi Group and Karan Paul (Apeejay Surrendra Group).
Preity Zinta however is the face of the team. She is seen cheering her team from the stands in almost every KXIP game and is involved in promoting the team and ticket sales. Zinta was the only woman to own an IPL team till 2009, and was the league’s youngest owner.
Ness Wadia dated Preity Zinta from February 2005 until 2009, and the couple we’re under massive limelight. On 13 June 2014, Zinta filed a complaint with the Mumbai police against Wadia claiming that he attacked her at an IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on 30 May. However Wadia denied the allegations.
Mohit Burman, another owner of KXIP, also owns the Mumbai Hockey India League Team “Dabur Mumbai Magicians” and the Pune team of the Indian Badminton League
5Kolkata Knight Riders
Owners- Shah Rukh Khan, Jay Mehta and Juhi Chawla | Net worth- $600 million, $2.4 million
The Kolkata Knight Riders franchise is owned by the Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in partnership with actress Juhi Chawla and her spouse Jay Mehta. Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Mehta’s Mehta Group are the joint owners. The KKR home is Eden Gardens, the mecca of Indian cricket.
The famous official slogan of the team is the catchy “Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo”(we will act, fight and win!).
The owners Shah Rukh Khan along with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta owns a team named Trinbago Knight Riders at the Cricket Premier League. The team won the tournament three times since 2013. Shah Rukh is also seen performing many times with fellow Bollywood actresses in the IPL stage performances.
4Mumbai Indians
Owner: Nita Ambani | Net worth- $ 21.2 billion
The famous three time winner franchise is owned by Reliance Industries through its 100% subsidiary IndiaWin Sports.
Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, is the face of Mumbai Indians. Her contribution to the development of the franchise and her mere presence seems to inspire and boost the morale of her team.
On 4 June 2016, Ambani was nominated for a membership in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by the Swiss-based panel alongside eight candidates and was elected as the first woman IOC member. She also led the ‘Education and sports for All’ (ESA) initiative as part of Mumbai Indians’ way of giving back to society.
3Rajasthan Royals
Owner: Manoj Badale | Net worth: $160 million
Rajasthan Royals is the first team to win the IPL title way back in 2008. The franchise is majorly owned by Manoj Badale and other investors include Lachlan Murdoch, Aditya S Chellaram and Suresh Chellaram.
Manoj Badale, along with Ranjit Barthakur, soon became the source of controversy after their debut in 2008 when inappropriate and fictitious bids were made, violating BCCI norms. Ranjit Barthakur and Fraser Castellino were the only two shareholders of the Jaipur IPL, completely unknown to the BCCI at the time. An out of court settlement between the two later ensued.
He is a great businessman. In media, he along with Charles Mindenhall co-founded the Rights Company (sold to Warner Music in 2005) and In financial services, they co-founded TDX Group (sold to Equifax in 2013), Clear Start (sold to Fairpoint PLC), Grove Capital and many more.
2Sunrisers Hyderabad
Owner: Kalanithi Maran | Net worth: $2 billion
Sunrisers Hyderabad was founded in 2012 and is owned by Kalanithi Maran of the Sun TV Network. Before 2012, the Hyderabad-based Deccan Chargers were terminated by the IPL.
Kalanithi Maran, owner of USD 2.8 billion (appx Rs 15,000 crores) Sun Group which had come a long way from being a student leader in the prestigious Loyola college to becoming South India’s biggest media baron.
He is also the owner of multilingual FM channel (93.5 Red FM) as well as Tamil FM channel (Suryan FM). He is in the list of richest Indians. His support for Sunrisers Hyderabad had increased its brand value that was estimated to be US$70 million in 2018.
1Royal Challengers Bangalore
Owner: Diageo | Net worth: $1 billion
Royal Challengers Bangalore was founded in 2008 and the team plays its home matches at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The captain of the team is the great cricketer Virat Kohli and coached by former New Zealand cricketer Daniel Vettori.
In 2008, the franchise was bought by Vijay Mallya and is currently owned by Indian alcoholic beverage company named United Spirits. Other than Delhi and Punjab, Royal Challengers are the only team to have not won an IPL title despite playing in each edition.
