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In a major development from the world of cricket, Saudi Arabia has reportedly expressed their interest in buying a multi-billion dollar stake in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is heralded as the biggest T20 franchise cricket league worldwide. The news about the initiative in cricket from the Middle Eastern country has come in the wake of their investments in football and golf in the recent past, which have changed the face of these sports in more ways than one.
As per the report in Bloomberg, the advisers to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, have spoken with Indian government officials about “moving the IPL into a holding company valued at as much as $30 billion in which Saudi Arabia would then take a significant stake.” It was further revealed that these talks were held when the Crown Prince had visited India in September, according to the people familiar with the matter.
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There were plans discussed about the IPL in the aforementioned talks, wherein Saudi Arabia “proposed investing as much as $5 billion into the league and help lead an expansion into other countries, similar to the English Premier League or the European Champions League.” It is to be noted that many of the team owners of the Indian Premier League have stakes in the cricket teams in the overseas T20 franchise leagues all over the world.
It was stated in the same report that while Saudi Arabia are keen on striking a deal for the IPL, the BCCI are likely to take a call on it after the Indian general elections scheduled to happen next summer, when the 17th edition of the league is expected to take place. Moreover, the officials of BCCI and the Center for International Communication of the Saudi Arabian government haven’t responded to the request of a comment on the matter, while the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia declined to comment on it.