All that glitters: How the money-spinning IPL turned cricket into gold

The Indian Premier League has made millionaires out of young players, generated invaluable publicity for team owners and made the national cricket board one of the richest governing bodies in global sport.

The world's most valuable cricket tournament, now in its 15th iteration and boasting the likes of Virat Kohli, Pat Cummins and Jos Buttler, was a pioneer in Twenty20 league cricket.

Its success and popularity have spawned copycat competitions in other countries and generated a fortune for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The high-octane, big-hitting carnival provides a must-see product, driving broadcast subscriptions by the millions and pulling in huge advertising revenue.

Some businesses are willing to splash out nearly $1 billion just to get a chance to field a team on the IPL's golden wicket.

When the tournament expanded to 10 teams this year from the original eight, the auction for the rights to own the new franchises drew international bidders including the Glazer family, who own Manchester United.

They were ultimately beaten out by Indian tycoon Sanjiv Goenka's RPSG conglomerate, who paid the BCCI $930 million to form the Lucknow Super Giants.

The second new franchise, the Gujarat Titans, cost the global venture fund CVC Capital $690 million.

The sums are eye-watering for teams that will only play two months a year, but Simon Chadwick, a sports economy professor at the Emlyon Business School in France, told AFP that it was worth the investment.

"The IPL is already a massive commercial opportunity, but given India's economic growth, expanding middle class and massive potential as a market for digital, it will potentially become even more lucrative," said Chadwick.

Broadcast rights are the BCCI's