PSL team auction looks mundane next to IPL, and the numbers paint brutal picture: Gulf of 100x explained in detail

PSL's new franchises cost INR 56-59 crores each, vastly overshadowed by IPL's expansion teams priced at INR 5,625 crore and INR 7,090 crore.

Updated on: Jan 9, 2026, 08:34:48 IST

By Probuddha Bhattacharjee

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Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) expansion took a major step on January 8, 2026, when the PCB sold two new franchises at its teams auction: Hyderabad went for PKR 1.75 billion and Sialkot for PKR 1.85 billion, as the league moves from six to eight teams.

Virat Kohli with the IPL trophy and Babar Azam with the PSL trophy. (PTI, X images)

Notably, IPL too had two key “team ownership” moments: the inaugural IPL franchise auction in 2008 and the most recent IPL expansion sale (2021). Here we look at a valuation comparison of the franchises in the two leagues. To keep it fair, we used a simple normalisation method: convert all prices into common currency (USD) using Jan 8, 2026 spot exchange rates, and for IPL 2008 (which is in older USD), inflate 2008 dollars into 2026-ish dollars using US CPI (Consumer Price Index) before comparing.

PSL 2026 expansion

Using USD/PKR spot for Jan 8, 2026 (1 USD = 280.05 PKR), the new PSL franchise fees translate to roughly:

Hyderabad (PKR 1.75 bn) = $6.25 million
Sialkot (PKR 1.85 bn) = $6.61 million

And if we convert these same numbers in INR at the same as-of point (1 USD = INR 89.90), those are roughly INR 56-59 crore.

So, the PSL expansion buy-in is essentially a single-digit million-dollar cheque.

Scenario 1: If IPL’s first franchise auction happened in 2026

The 2008 IPL franchise auction produced eight team sales, headlined by Mumbai and Bangalore at roughly $111-112 million each, with Rajasthan at $67 million as the lowest.

But comparing 2008 USD directly to 2026 USD is misleading, so we inflation adjusted 2008 dollars to 2026-ish dollars using CPI. US CPI shows 2008 annual average - 215.303, while the latest pre-Jan 2026 CPI print (NOV 2025) is 324.122, an inflation factor of roughly 1.50x.

That means, in 2026-equivalent terms:

Mumbai Indians/RCB - roughly $168 million in 2026-ish dollars
Rajasthan Royals - roughly $ 101 million in 2026-ish dollars

Now compare those to PSL’s entry price:

A 2026-equivalent Rajasthan is about 16 times a PSL franchise.
A 2026-equivalent Mumbai/RCB is about 27 times a PSL franchise.

Even after doing the fairest possible adjustment, the IPL’s Day-1 ownership pricing sits in nine-figure USD, while PSL’s 2026 expansion pricing sits in single-digit millions.

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Scenario 2: IPL’s most recent team auction vs PSL

The IPL’s latest ownership sale is an even sharper contrast because it was priced in modern, mega-rights IPL economics:

Lucknow sold for INR 7,090 crore
Ahmedabad sold for INR 5,625 crore

Converted into USD using the same Jan 8, 2026 USD/INR spot rate, that is roughly:

Lucknow = $789 million
Ahmedabad = $626 million

Put against PSL’s team values:

Lucknow is 126 times PSL’s Hyderabad franchise
Ahmedabad is 100 times PSL’s Hyderabad franchise

So, IPL’s latest expansion entree fee is roughly 100-125 times PSL’s latest expansion entry fee, once everything is expressed in common 2026 currency.

Why the gap is this extreme

A two to five times difference can be explained by audience size/ A 100 times difference is structural.

Central broadcast + digital economics: IPL franchise valuations are underwritten by a massive media-rights ecosystem and strong central revenue distributions; the market prices that predictability into team ownership.
Commercial depth: IPL teams monetize at multiple players - sponsorship inventory, premium hospitality, merchandising, year-round brand value - at scale.
Global premium product positioning: IPL is valued as a global sports entertainment property. PSL is a strong league with momentum, but its ownership pricing reflects the actual difference between the two.

Using the same January 8, 2026 exchange-rate snapshot, the contrast looks even starker in local currencies: PSL’s new franchises work out roughly INR 56-59 crores each, while IPL 2021’s expansion teams were sold for INR 7,090 crore and INR 5,625 crore - about 100-125 times higher on a like-for-like basis. Even the IPL’s 2008 founding fees, once converted into 2026-equivalent value land in the INR 900-1500 crore band per team, still multiple times PSL’s new-team pricing. In short, PSL’s expansion fee behaves like an entry ticket into a growing league; the IPL’s franchise sales are priced like global sports assets.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Probuddha Bhattacharjee
Probuddha Bhattacharjee is a sports writer and analyst with expertise spanning cricket, football, and multi-sport events, with a strong emphasis on data-driven journalism and tactical storytelling. He currently focuses on international cricket, the Indian Premier League, global tournaments, and emerging trends shaping modern sport, blending advanced statistics with strong narrative context to explain performance, strategy, and decision-making. His work aims to bridge the gap between numbers and storytelling, helping readers understand not just what happened on the field, but the tactical and structural reasons behind it. Trained in data journalism through the Google News Initiative (GNI) Data Journalism Lab, Probuddha works extensively with ball-by-ball datasets, performance metrics, and trend-based modelling to produce evidence-backed reports, explainers, and long-form features. His analytical approach focuses not only on outcomes but also on process—selection strategies, phase-wise tactics, workload management, and the influence of preparation and planning on match results. He is particularly interested in how statistical patterns reshape conventional cricketing narratives and provide clearer tactical insight for modern audiences. Beyond cricket, Probuddha has written analytical and news-driven pieces on football and other major sporting events, with a growing interest in sports governance, scheduling dynamics, and the economics of elite competitions. He also tracks how rule changes, franchise structures, and broadcast pressures influence the evolution of contemporary sport. He has previously contributed to platforms such as OneCricket, Sportskeeda, and CrickTracker, and continues to specialise in analytical storytelling, live coverage, and audience-focused reporting. His work prioritises clarity, context, and credibility, while consistently exploring innovative ways to present data through accessible narratives and structured match analysis.Read More

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