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≡ CRICKET’S 2028 IMPACT ≡
“The sport that the Indian population cherishes the most is cricket. I think we’re here in a place where this is a game-changer not just for India, but it’s also a game-changer for the Olympic Movement.
“Bringing cricket back into the Olympic sports program, basically creates a new cricket competition. So whoever is going to be the winner of that bid will be bringing to the Indian fans, for the first time ever, cricket back into the games. So that’s our historical moment, but it’s also something very special, because the games are not just about will not be just about cricket, but we believe that also, whoever is going to be the media rights holder will also become the catalyst for growth of other Olympic sports around India, and, you know, hopefully inspire young girls and boys in across India to maybe take on, take upon a more active lifestyle and embrace new sports that they may not have known existed before.”
That’s International Olympic Committee Managing Director of Television and Marketing, Anne-Sophie Voumard (SUI), telling Indian television CNBC-TV18 that the IOC is opening the television rights sale for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles for bid.
The rights for Paris 2024 were purchased by Viacom18 for $31 million U.S. and Voumard expects quite a bit more for 2028:
“Because of the vibrancy of the media market in India at the moment, we deliberately chose to open a formal, transparent tender, where we’re going to be inviting everyone with the same conditions. In terms of value we expect, I cannot disclose any value that is confidential information, but the expectation is that the amount will be a multiple of that [$31 million] amount.”
Voumard confirmed that the IOC is talking with Indian companies as potential TOP sponsors, explaining what the Olympic Movement does and how it operates, but also how an Olympic sponsorship can help advance company objectives.
The television bidding process is expected to have bids returned to the IOC by 13 August.
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Observed: Figures like $200 million for Indian television rights for 2028 were bandied about when T20 cricket was being discussed as a possible addition to the 2028 Olympic program in Los Angeles.
The LA28 organizers have decided to hold the tournament – with six teams each for men and women – in a temporary facility at the expansive Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona, California, just northeast of Los Angeles, a complex used to large crowds.
Now, Los Angeles in specific and Southern California in general is not cricket country. The addition of cricket by LA28 as an added sport was essentially a gift to the IOC to allow it to get a deeper relationship with India, a growing international power in sport.
With the sport in for 2028 and sure to be added for Brisbane 2032 – where cricket is big business – will the IOC share some of its increased TV rights with LA28?
They may already have.
The 2028 Host City Contract showed that LA28 would receive $898 million in television rights revenue and from $437-637 million in TOP sponsorship revenue. However, with the loss of Toyota as an IOC sponsor at the end of 2024, the latest LA28 budget shows a TOP sponsorship share back down to $437 million. Not good for LA28.
But, the revised LA28 budget does show an increase in the TV rights share to $948 million, an increase of $50 million. A share of the Indian increase, perhaps?
In truth, if the IOC does receive significantly more for the Indian television rights, it should willingly share half with LA28, because the Los Angeles organizers did them a real favor, not just for 2028, but setting the floor for 2032 and well beyond.
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