Will Women’s IPL be a moneyspinner like the Men’s IPL?

The Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) has finally taken Women’s IPL seriously. In 2017, the India women’s team had finished runners-up in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup as well as in the 2020 T20 World Cup. There were many prominent voices calling for a T20 league in India for female cricketers similar to WBBL in Australia or England’s now-non-existent KIA Super League. The ICC Women’s World Cup had a cumulative global television audience viewership of 104.8 million.

Many financial experts believe that women’s cricket is an untapped mine and WIPL 2023 may be an opportunity for brands to invest in it. The number of brands getting on board is expected to go up in the days to come. A new report by Rediffusion's Red Lab stats that skeptics abound. But one can be sure that the WIPL is a step in the right direction — for women and gender equality and equally for women’s empowerment. The report also mentions findings from a YouGov survey.

Women’s sports mostly stayed deprived of the bounty. And when money did flow in, there was a vast disparity between the payouts for men and women. YouGov, an internet-based market research and data analytics firm carried out research in 13 countries with 15 million respondents. The report revealed a stark difference in the case of professional sports, which are considered to be ‘rich’ and ‘influential’ category. Football/soccer, tennis and golf took center stage for being ‘rich’ sports with huge prize money at stake. Remuneration for men outstripped that for women quite significantly. Tennis and golf have attempted to bridge the gap but even there, the women’s compensation trails the men by a wide margin.

WIPL is now being looked at with a new lens by sporting pundits. Cricket is watched and played by millions of Indians. The Men's IPL made the game even more popular with audiences including millions of women. The question is whether the Women’s IPL will also get the same salute?

The Board of Control for Cricket in India assigned the WIPL media rights to Viacom18 for Rs. 951 crore, beating out Disney Star in a closed-bid auction that includes both global television and digital rights until 2027. The value of a single match in the WIPL will work out to Rs. 7.09 crore. The fee paid by Viacom18 is Rs.190.2 crore per season, which is among the biggest rights investments in women’s sport today.

BCCI secretary, Jay Shah, shared that the Board has garnered a whopping Rs 4,669.99 crore in total bids for the franchises during the auction process for its inaugural Women’s T20 leagues’ sale of teams. It is a whopping amount for an infant league with almost no credentials so far. But the aggressive bids are testimony to the faith being already reposed in the future of the WIPL.

Rediffusion's Red Lab report states that the League is off to a good start. There is support, though somewhat lukewarm for now. But the momentum could pick up pace in the days ahead. The WIPL will start from March 3, 2023 and the final matches will be played from March 26, 2023 to April 1, 2023. It is going to be a five-team round-robin format to start with. A 22-match event, the matches are expected to be played at Brabourne and DY Patil stadiums in Mumbai.

However, Indians are most optimistic and assert that women’s sports/games have improved and this has been voted by 84 percent of the respondents in the 13 country study of YouGov. For sponsors, there seems to be good potential reward for brands who might consider supporting Women’s Sports. Considering the relative cost of sponsoring Men’s vs Women’s IPL, there may actually be real value in supporting the latter.