BCCI expected to bring in Rs 6,700 crore in 2025-26, Asia Cup hosting adds Rs 100 crore | Cricket News

New Delhi: The Indian cricket team may not have received the trophy for winning the Asia Cup last month, but hosting the tournament will add a net surplus of over Rs 100 crore to the coffers of the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI). According to the BCCI’s annual budget for 2025-26, a copy of which TOI has, the board expects to maintain a net surplus of around Rs 6,700 crore for the 2025-26 financial year, even as it contemplates a difficult future with the initial loading the valuation has fallen for the second consecutive year.“(There is an) expected increase in international tours surplus of Rs. 109.04 crore due to Asia Cup hosting fees, rights revenue and participation fees in ICC T20 World Cup. (There is expected) an increase in media rights surplus of Rs. 138.64 crore due to higher number of home international matches, increase in media rights fees by match and hosting revenue from the Asian Cup,” the document said.

The Asia Cup was embroiled in controversy due to the Pahalgam terror attack in April this year. The tournament was shifted to the United Arab Emirates after the government declared its policy of playing Pakistan only in multinational sporting events. The tournament ultimately ended with Asian Cricket Council president Mohsin Naqvi – who is also head of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan’s interior minister – refusing to hand over the trophy to the Indian winners after the Indian team refused to receive it from him.The surplus has multiplied by 10 in 8 years, but a challenge awaits us with the drop in the valuation of the IPLThe BCCI’s expected surplus for this financial year will be 10 times higher than the actual surplus of 2017-18 before the mega IPL media rights deal in 2018, where the board surplus increased by 222 per cent. The BCCI is expected to post a surplus of around Rs 6,700 crore, compared to Rs 666 crore in 2017-18.However, the board may well be looking at an unstable future, with the IPL’s valuation having fallen significantly since the merger of media rivals Jio and Star last year. According to a report by D&P Advisory, IPL’s valuation has declined by Rs 16,000 crore in the last two years. The ban on real-money online gaming apps, which once brought in a significant portion of sponsorship funds, also played a role. Consulting growth may see a slowdown in the next media rights cycle, which increases in 2028.It is worth noting that the board has managed to reduce its reliance on the IPL since 2018-19 through better media rights deals and ICC revenue sharing. In 2018-19, the BCCI generated only five per cent of its surplus while the IPL contributed 95 per cent to its close to Rs 2,100 crore surplus. The IPL consistently runs a surplus, this time nearly Rs 5,000 crore over the BCCI’s surplus of Rs 6,700 crore.The document takes into account “an increase in media rights per match of approximately 27% compared to the previous year”. The document said, “For 2025-26, the allocation ratio is 20% for BCCI, 76% for IPL and 4% for WPL, whereas in the budget for 2024-25, this ratio was 24% for BCCI, 72% for IPL and 4% for WPL based on the budgets. »Spending on women’s domestic cricket 3.5 times lower than men’sIn its expenditure, the BCCI has earmarked a budget of Rs 96 crore for the women’s domestic tournaments, which is only 26 per cent of the surplus generated by the Women’s Premier League alone. This does not take into account media rights for international matches.Compared to women’s cricket, the BCCI intends to spend Rs 344 crore on men’s domestic cricket across all age groups. The expenses for the Ranji Trophy alone, it is Rs 111 crore. Women’s cricket does not have a structured first-class interstate tournament like the Ranji Trophy. The BCCI has scheduled an inter-zonal tournament in a multi-day format. The rest of all women’s tournaments of all age groups are played in one-day and T20 format.Notably, the WPL generated a surplus of over Rs 350 crore. Last year, the WPL had a surplus of Rs 390 crore while the board projected a surplus of Rs 358 crore for 2025-26.3.5x increase in junior A programs in IndiaThe BCCI has increased its spending on development programs like India A and junior cricket by almost three and a half times. According to the budget, the board plans to spend Rs 42 crore this financial year, compared to Rs 12.9 crore last year. The BCCI has admitted that there has been a sharp decline in these development programs after Rahul Dravid was elevated to India’s head coach in 2021, having been in charge of the National Cricket Academy and development teams. Before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the BCCI organized frequent A and youth tours which helped build a strong pool of resources.TOI understands that current NCA chief VVS Laxman and chief selector Ajit Agarkar have focused on this aspect and relaunched the A tours this year.GRS reduced by Rs 231 crore, Test cricket incentive addedThe board reduced the gross revenue share (GRS) to Rs 171 crore from last year’s Rs 412 crore. A sum of Rs 48 crore was disbursed in the last financial year to incentivize players to play all the scheduled test matches over the course of a year. Rs 45 crore has been marked for 2025-26. Interestingly, BCCI’s policy was to give 26 percent of GRS to cricketers. Thirteen percent of this went to international cricketers, while the remaining 13 percent was shared with domestic cricketers. It will be interesting to see if the board changes its GRS policy.