Legends League Cricket valued at $91 mn, says report

Legends League Cricket Masters 2023, which was organized by Delhi-based Absolute Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd in Qatar with three teams, achieved a valuation of $90.7 million, according to a report.

The report titled LLC: Sponsorship Valuation Report, said the cumulative reach of the tournament surged 100% and TV ratings gained 91%. It cited BARC data. TV contributed a majority of the value, accounting for $69.8 million, over-the top platforms was at $11.7 million, and the rest came from social media and press, it said. “We are the number two cricket league in India by the number of matches and made a big dent on viewers as our format has retired cricketers who still have a few years of cricket left in them, playing . In this season we had India playing Pakistan twice, and whenever that happens, there is a very high viewership,” Raman Raheja, a director of Absolute Sports and chief executive of Legends League Cricket, said.

According to BARC data, the average TV rating for LLC Masters season 2 in Doha, was 0.38, and 103 million reach.

It held eight matches over 10 days in March, and had a TV-OTT audience of 262 million. But the DP World ILT20 had about 367 million unique viewers for 34 matches, which were telecast on more channels, some on free to air channels like Zee Cinema, according to another YouGov report.

“We were at 0.38 and DP World ILT20 were at 0.22 in terms of BARC data,” he said. “The change of broadcaster (from Sony Sports Network to Star Sports) directly benefited us and the sponsors, and our reach increased manifold. We gained female viewership, and have a better viewership than BCCI’s Women’s Premier League,” Raheja said.

The organisers of the LLC created two formats: a domestic and an international event. The LLC, which began last September, runs a private-franchise format with six teams.

The LLC Masters’ first season was held in Muscat in 2022 with just three regional teams —the India Maharajas, Asia Lions and World Giants.

Its three teams World Giants, Asia Lions and Indian Maharajas had a combined net sponsorship value of $2,35,57,467 of which Asia Lions had a disproportionately higher value than the other two. The teams are owned by the league in this model and so the entire revenue generated is collected in the central kitty and expenses are borne by the owning company as well. Raheja said it is early days for the league, and while the topline grew 300% from season one to three, it not profitable yet. The next season of the franchise model is likely to become profitable since it has more teams, matches and will be hosted in India. Absolute Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd., was founded by Raheja, Vivek Khushalani and Seema Kilachand.

He said cumulative reach has gone up 100% in the third season and TV ratings have gone up 91%. “In the target audience we have we have been able to make a major dent. This is in the Male A+B category.

In the last season of its franchised model, LLCT20, the overall expenditure of the league was $7 million for the entire project. This season, Raheja anticipated it to be about $15 million. About 75 cricketers participated in the league and the total pool of players was 100.

In terms of players, there was representation from 11 countries which are all ODI playing like India, Zimbabwe. Cricketers like Eoin Morgan who retired recently, Chris Gayle, Jonty Rodes and so on. Indian players include Yusuf Pathan, Virender Sehwag, M. Kaif, RP Singh and others were part of the league.

Raheja added “We are the number two cricket league. In this season we had India playing Pakistan twice over. Whenever that happens, there is a higher viewership.” Live Mint