Cricket’s mammoth Indian Premier League

csk It rose to $3.3 billion in 2013. csk It crossed $5 billion in 2018. csk Its valuation nearly doubled from five years back and crossed $10 billion in 2023. csk Explainer Cricket’s mammothIndian Premier League The sport’s first franchise league is a huge money spinner and has overshadowed other domestic competitions in the game The months of April and May mean only one thing for India’s army of cricket fans; the Indian Premier League (IPL). Now in its 17th season, the IPL was cricket’s first franchise style league. A franchise sports league is a tournament where teams are run like a business and can be privately owned. Leagues like soccer’s Premier League in England and basketball’s National Basketball Association in the United States are domestic tournaments. Across all major sports played in the world, including soccer, American football, baseball and basketball, franchise-style leagues have been almost as popular as international events. Not in cricket though. The sport is primarily played at international level among a handful of countries, most of them former colonies of Britain. The international governing body of cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC), has 12 permanent members. It also has over 90 associate member nations where