Credit: BCCI/IPL
Punjab Kings (PBKS), formerly known as Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), is an Indian Premier League franchise based out of Punjab and founded in 2008. PBKS franchise owners are Mohit Burman, Preity Zinda, and Karan Paul. Punjab Kings haven't won a trophy despite featuring many star players like Yuvraj Singh, Shaun Marsh, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, among others over the years.
Punjab Kings have reached the semi-finals or playoffs only twice in the IPL 2008 and 2014. PBKS appeared in their first and only IPL final in 2014 against Kolkata Knight Riders. In 2008, the PBKS franchise got owned by the Dabur group's Mohit Burman (46%), the Wadia's group Ness Wadia (23%), Preity Zinta (23%), and Saptarshi Dey of the Dey & Dey group (minor stake). Overall, this group paid $76 million to acquire this IPL franchise. In February 2021, the franchise changed its name from Kings XI Punjab to Punjab Kings.
As per reports, PBKS's net worth was around $925 million in IPL 2022, and the profit earned through media rights of IPL 2023 might double the income of this franchise.
Every year, PBKS earns a lot through media rights, sponsorships, stadium ticket sales, merchandise sales (T-shirts), 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
In June 2022, the BCCI sold the IPL 2023-27 media rights to Viacom 18 (OTT) and Disney Star (Television) for a massive price of 48,390 crores. Realizing the popularity of this T20 league, the buyers didn't hesitate to spend a hefty price towards this sporting league. BCCI shares 40 to 50 percent of revenue from media rights to all ten IPL franchises.
The highest share of the amount goes to the top performers of the IPL season out of all franchises. As per reports, the income of PBKS would get doubled compared to the last year, as the sale of media rights has seen an unreal increase.
2. Sponsorships
Sponsors have been the second largest source of income for the IPL franchise. Punjab was associated with many international brands like Whirlpool, Reebook, Wrigley, Videocon D2H, HTC, etc. In the IPL 2023, Punjab roped in some renowned companies as their Principal sponsors, which include BKT, Reliance Jio, boAt, All Seasons Hand Rub, and Hindware Italian collection.
Financial services company EbixCash and Natural Cosmetics company Lotus Herbals are the two title sponsors for the Punjab Kings franchise. Punjab's associate sponsors include brands such as CAMPA, Amul Organic, B Natural, Orion, and Nestle Munch.
3. Stadium ticket sales
PBKS play all their home matches at PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. Since 2010, they also play a few of their home games at the Dharamsala (or) Indore venue. Punjab supporters register their presence at the mentioned venue in big numbers every year. Punjab's performance over the years has been disappointing, but the fans and crowd never shied away from voicing out support for the franchise in the stadium.
In every IPL edition, a franchise gets to host seven matches at the home ground which helps these ten franchises to collect money through ticket sales. Approximately it's believed that franchises would generate 15 percent of their total revenue through ticket sales and gate passes.
Notably, a small percentage of ticket sales from the stadium goes to BCCI and sponsors. The price of an IPL ticket would generally get decided by team management for home games.
4. Merchandise Sales
The sports merchandise industry has seen rapid growth over the years, and going by the market trend overall, PBKS sells its merchandise through the megastore powered by the Fancode shop.
Punjab Kings makes a decent amount of revenue through merchandise sales such as jersey replicas and other athletic equipment. Generally, sales skyrocket during the IPL season as fans show their loyalty and support for the team during this period.
PBKS announced PlayR to be their official merchandise partner in 2023, which would help the franchise to accelerate sales and get closer to their fans.
5. Prize Money
PBKS wouldn't have benefitted much from this as they qualified for the semi-finals (or) playoffs only twice in the IPL overall. Punjab played brilliantly in the inaugural edition but unfortunately lost the semi-final game to CSK. Later in 2014, they managed to reach the finals of the IPL, which helped them to earn a whopping amount of 10 crores despite not being able to win the IPL trophy.
Prize money for each team is distributed based on the points table standings, and notably, the revenue earned from the prize money will be the least for all the IPL franchises compared to the topics discussed above.
