The consortium includes Aditya Birla Group, Times of India Group, Bolt Ventures and Blackstone’s BXPE Strategy. Following this all-cash deal, both the men’s and women’s teams of RCB will now be owned and operated by this new group.

Deal done for more than the value of Lucknow-Gujarat franchise
This deal is also special because its price is more than the combined value of Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans sold in 2021. It is clear from this that the brand value of IPL franchise is increasing rapidly.

Earlier Diageo had ownership rights
In fact, in November last year, Diageo had indicated that it was reviewing its stake in RCB, as cricket is not its core business. After this the sale process started and now the deal has been completed.

RCB was sold for 111 million dollars in 2008
RCB is a team associated with IPL since its inception in 2008. At that time it was bought by Vijay Mallya-led United Breweries Group for about $111.6 million. Apart from this, in 2023, RCB also bought the Women’s Premier League (WPL) team for Rs 901 crore.

The new consortium has also expressed enthusiasm about this deal. According to him, RCB’s strong brand identity, deep connection with Bengaluru and fan base spread across the world makes it a special franchise.

In this new group, Aryaman Birla will be made the chairman and Satyan Gajwani will be made the vice-chairman. Meanwhile, USL CEO Praveen Someshwar said that RCB has become one of the most successful and popular franchises of IPL and WPL today.

This deal once again shows that the economic strength of Indian cricket and especially IPL is continuously increasing and it may see further growth in the coming times.