Advertising, airlines and hotels earn big as BCCI clears ODI World Cup 2023 payments

India played some fantastic cricket during the ODI World Cup 2023. After winning 10 games in a row, the 'Men in Blue' lost in the summit clash against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The 13th edition of the ODI World Cup was held exclusively in India for the first time. Several businesses made substantial amounts of money as the cricket-crazy nation welcomed the marquee event with open arms.

The highest payments made by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were to companies across categories including advertising, airlines and hotels, among others, between August and November 2023, according to disclosures of payments above Rs 25 lakh made by the cricket board available on its official website. Sports marketing company TCM (Twenty First Century Media) signed the most lucrative contract with the BCCI during this period. They earned a whopping amount of Rs 38.60 crore. Out of this hefty amount, Rs 3.40 crore was towards organising the mid-innings ceremony in the final, while the rest was for PR and marketing services of the entire tournament.

According to the company’s website, it was the official agency for the static signage production and management across all 10 stadiums during the cricketing spectacle. Media investment company GroupM, which supports businesses in strategising their advertising methods, was the second in the list with payments of Rs 23.47 crore, according to the disclosures made by BCCI. Airline Vistara comes in at No. 3 in the list with payments totalling Rs 8 crore, followed by DNA Entertainment at Rs 6.9 crore and Akasa at Rs 3 crore.

The other substantial payments were Rs 2.9 crore made to ground transportation company KTC India Pvt Ltd, Rs. 2.5 crore to ITC Hotels and Rs 2 crore to SpiceJet. There might be changes to this list in the near future as some dues might not have been cleared by the end of November or could have been broken down into payments amounting to less than Rs 25 lakh. As per the disclosures, air travel constituted a heavy chunk of BCCI's payments for the showpiece event at Rs 16 crore. Chartered flight firms like Air Charter Service India Private Ltd and Charter X also received payments of Rs 2 crore and Rs 90 lakh, respectively.

A total of Rs 10.4 crore was paid by the BCCI to the hotels for the duration of the Cricket World Cup. Hotels like Radisson Blu Dharamshala, Leela Palace Chennai, Trident Nariman Point and ITC Narmada Ahmedabad bagged the biggest deals with payments of Rs 1.50 crore, Rs 99 lakh, Rs 95 lakh and Rs 86 lakh, respectively. Security solutions company Eagle Hunter earned a payment of Rs 1.6 crore from the richest cricket board in the world.

Tamil Nadu Cricket Association earned highest gross amount among various state associations

The cricket associations of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Mumbai, Maharashtra and Karnataka received Rs 10.80 crore each as hosting venue fees for the 10-team tournament. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) was the highest-grosser at Rs 11.80 crore. The cricket associations of Assam and Kerala fetched only Rs 2.70 crore each, while Hyderabad, which did not get to host a match involving India, got Rs 8.10 crore.

In FY23, BCCI received a major boost in its earnings after a dip in the previous year due to the pandemic that restricted the number of tournaments. BCCI Treasurer Ashish Shelar had said during the Annual General Meeting held in September 2023 that the cricket board recorded revenue of Rs 6,558.80 crore in the last financial year, up from Rs 4,360.57 crore generated in the 2021-22 financial year, 

The BCCI had also pointed out a boost in its income for the current fiscal year (FY24), amounting to Rs 2,198.23 crore. According to BCCI's earnings shared before Parliament in August last year, the cricket board registered income of $919 million (Rs 7,568 crore at current exchange rates) and expenditure of $370 million (Rs 3,077 crore) for the fiscal year ending March 2022 with a surplus of $549 million (Rs 4,549 crore). The cricket board is estimated to earn around $230 million (Rs 1,913 crore) annually between 2024 and 2027, or 38.50 percent of the International Cricket Council's yearly profits of $600 million (Rs 4,990 crore).

Estimates by brokerage firms accentuated the significant contribution of the World Cup to the Indian economy. Economists at Bank of Baroda last year estimated a $2.6 billion (Rs 21,622 crore) addition to the country's economy while a Kotak Securities report projected the cricket tournament adding around Rs 13,500 crore to the Indian economy. As per experts, travel, hospitality, media and entertainment, retail, food and beverage sectors benefitted the most from the Cricket World Cup 2023.