You do not need a long paragraph about the fact that why cricket in India is more than just a sport. We are way past that. The game in India has now turned into a pseudo-deity, which somehow supercedes even the other religions. And that is just putting it mildly. With cricket being played in almost every single nook and cranny across the country, it takes a governing body of massive proportions to ensure that the game in India is constantly striving for greatness, becoming a springboard for sustained dominance as well as ensuring that the game reaches even further than it is currently.
And that is where the Board of Control for Cricket in India, i.e the BCCI steps in. Found way back in 1928 as a society, the body has undergone a massive transformation in the last 15-20 years, that it is the biggest board in world cricket, both in terms of size as well as the revenue it generates. While nominally the game has it’s big 3, with the ECB and CA making up the triumvirate, everyone knows that it is the BCCI who calls the shots. Such is the dominance of the board where one call from them can have a seismic effect on how the global game moves forward. Such is the financial might of the BCCI, that currently the body has a net worth of around $2 billion USD. This is a figure which eclipses almost every board. Wherever India goes for a bilateral series, revenues follow.
So the question remains: how do the BCCI make their money?. Because the body is registered as a non-profit organisation. The answer to this is very simple: sponsorships and broadcasting rights. As of today, the BCCI have sponsorship deals with some of the biggest companies from across the globe, some of them which were agreed at eye-watering prices. The likes of Paytm, Byju’s, Hyundai etc are the primary sponsors, and each bring with them a lot of money. However, nothing compares to the amount bought in by the broadcasting rights that it has. Just recently, the BCCI raked in a mind+boggling sum of close to $6.2 billion USD. That is the testament of the power and the influence that the BCCI generates in its dealings.
With such vast amounts of revenue in its coffers, no wonder that the BCCI is all-powerful and all-conquering in its influence. Not only India, but the entire world sits up and takes notice whenever the BCCI steps in. And the financial aspect is one of the biggest reasons why.
