Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Gujarat Titans (GT) is a franchise cricket team based in Gujarat and they play in the Indian Premier League since 2022. The GT franchise is owned by CVC Capital Partners. The BCCI released a tender to buy two new teams for the upcoming IPL season in August 2021. CVC Capital Partners is a British private equity and investment advisory firm that won the rights for the Ahmedabad franchise in an auction that was held in Dubai in Oct 2021 with a bid value of INR 5,625 Crore. The Ahmedabad franchise revealed the name of its cricket team to be Gujarat Titans on 9 Feb 2022.
Gujarat Titans-led by Hardik Pandya won a title in their inaugural edition (2022) and in 2023 they reached the IPL final for the second consecutive time as well. Gujarat Titans are only the second team after Rajasthan Royals to win the title in their inaugural IPL edition (2022) and they are only the third team after CSK and MI to reach the finals of an IPL in two consecutive seasons. GT enhanced the brand value of their franchise in the first two IPL seasons by playing brilliant cricket in this T20 tournament.
Gujarat Titans in these two years have earned revenue through media rights, sponsorships, stadium ticket sales, merchandise sales (jersey), and the prize money they get from this cash-rich league. Here, in this article, we will look into the details of this.
1. Media Rights
IPL franchises get a remarkable amount through media rights revenue. The BCCI sells away its media rights to broadcasters (TV & OTT) for a massive price of INR 48,390 Crore. BCCI shares 40 to 50 percent of revenue from media rights with all ten franchises.
The highest share of the amount goes to the top performers of the IPL season out of all franchises. The franchises would get a better deal when compared to last year (IPL 2022), as the media sales saw an unreal increase for the 2023-27 cycle. Media Rights have been the principal source of revenue for all the IPL franchises.
GT would have got the highest share among all teams as they won the trophy in 2022 and once again in 2023, they ended as runners-up in the tournament. The unprecedented deal for media rights has helped IPL to be the second most valued sporting league in the world. Broadcasters like Viacom 18 and Star didn't hesitate to spend a hefty price for this T20 league, as they also realized the popularity and reach to be much bigger for Indian Premier League.
2. Sponsorships
The revenue generated through sponsors has been the second-largest source of income for all ten IPL franchises, which almost contributes 20-30 per cent of total revenue for each team. The sponsors who work for IPL exclusively (like TATA, CRED, Upstox, etc.) distribute 40-50 per cent of the money earned from this T20 league to all ten of the IPL franchises, and apart from this, teams work with the brands individually to boost their revenue and visibility.
GT signed the Indian electronic vehicle brand Ather Energy as a principal sponsor in IPL 2022. The franchise's associate partners include companies like Astral Pipes, Capri Global, Acko, BKT, Simpolo Ceramics, Equitas Bank, Jio, TIMEX, and Rayzon Solar. GT's official partners include companies like boAt, Dream11, JioCinema, Bisleri, Havmor Ice Cream, Croma, Munch, and Rario.
3. Stadium ticket sales
The revenue generated through ticket sales contributes to 15 per cent of the franchise's total revenue. GT wasn't able to play their first IPL season at the home venue unfortunately due to COVID-19 as all league matches were scheduled at the three venues in Mumbai and Pune, but in 2023 GT played all their home matches at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
The price of an IPL ticket would generally get decided by team management for home games. A small part of the revenue from ticket sales gets divided between the sponsors and the BCCI. Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is the largest stadium in the world that can accommodate a crowd of 1,32,000 spectators overall. The cost of the ticket has varied from INR 800 to INR 6000 and notably, they hosted both Qualifier 2 and finals in both IPL 2022 & 2023 editions.
This year GT is expected to make a huge profit through sales of match tickets and ground passes.
4. Merchandise Sales
The market and expansion of business for the sales of merchandise have seen new growth in India, and this trend of increased sales has helped all the IPL franchises to break into this sector to make revenue from this investment source. For many years, teams like KKR and MI have been active in this business sector with online stores, and GT also in their inaugural season (2022) launched their official merchandise store (online shop) as a one-stop destination for GT supporters to satisfy their cricketing needs.
Gujarat Titans receives a decent amount from the sales of sports merchandise such as jersey, bats, and many other athletic equipment, etc. GT signed a multi-year deal with a gaming company called Cybeart as their merchandising partner to improve their business in an effective manner.
5. Prize Money
Gujarat Titans in their inaugural edition went on to win the IPL trophy and won a prize amount of INR 20 Crore in 2022, and in the next IPL season (2023), they ended as runners-up to win a prize amount of INR 13 Crore in total. All ten franchises get prize money based on the IPL standings they finish every year. However, among all things mentioned here, every franchise tends to get the least amount through this source of revenue.