The Premier League's broadcasting revenue may continue to rise sharply, with next season's takings estimated to be worth well in excess of £3bn.
But football's most attractive competition for TV companies has been usurped by the Indian Premier League when it comes to cost per match following a remarkable rise in the cricket upstart's global interest.
An online auction set to finish today will see the IPL's broadcast revenues hit £5bn for a five-year period starting next year, placing it second only to the NFL when it comes to value per fixture and knocking the Premier League down to third.
The broadcast value of each IPL match will be about £11.3m, some way off the NFL's worth of £28.8m per game and in the Premier League £9.5m.
Sourav Ganguly, president of the Board of Control of Cricket in India, said that the IPL now “brings in more revenue than the Premier League.” The previous auction, in 2017, was worth £1.7bn. “The sport is strong and will continue to evolve," Ganguly added.
However, the total income remains some way short owing to there being 74 matches IPL fixtures per season (rising to 94 by the end of the deal) compared to 380 in a Premier League campaign.
The Premier League 's total broadcast income for next season is expected to be about £3.4bn, which is more than double the next best domestic football competition - La Liga with £1.6bn.
Four packages had been put up for tender by the BCCI, who had enlisted KPMG to assist with the auction. Yesterday the two primary packages were sold for more than £4bn, with two remaining non-exclusive packages to be decided today that will take the overall amount to about £5bn.
The identities of the winning bidders are yet to be made public but Disney Star have won the TV rights, according to reports in India, with Viacom the highest bidders for digital streaming rights.
Both may subcontract to broadcasters across the world to recoup some of their spend. Sky Sports have shown the competition in the UK in recent years through a subcontracting agreement.
