300
Having become only the third franchise to defend their IPL title successfully and becoming one of the most popular T20 franchises, will the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) now look to acquire overseas franchises? Times of India, whicj along with Aditya Birla Group, Bolt Ventures and Blackstone that brought the franchise for a sum of $1.78 billion in March, ending United Spirits’ tenure, opened up on the same.
“RCB very centered around Bengaluru” – Times Internet chairman
Despite IPL teams including Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders building a presence in leagues in the United States, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean, RCB are taking a cautious approach.
“Don’t think we have any plans as of now. We’re a bit ahead of ourselves as we’re still focusing on closing the transaction and then thinking about where we’re going from there,” Times Internet Chairman Gajwani told Reuters. I think RCB as a brand is very centred around Bengaluru and around cricket.”
Gajwani said the franchise’s immediate focus was on strengthening its core rather than stretching into new markets, even though he acknowledged the brand’s global potential.
“The RCB brand warrants a global presence and that could be through other forms like academies that we could do on the ground, it could also be potentially through expanding into franchise cricket and other markets,” Gajwani said. It’s still a little bit in the air to decide whether or not we want to do that.”
RCB ended a 17-year-wait for the men’s IPL title last season and retained it this year, while their women’s team have won titles in 2024 and 2026.
However, Gajwani said the consortium’s immediate priority is to drive engagement beyond the IPL’s two-month window and address the persistent demand-supply gap for tickets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium which has a capacity of only 33,800.
“One of the issues we have is the stadium can only fit as many people and it’s not easy to buy tickets for RCB games. So, hopefully, we’ll find ways to grow the stadium and ways to bring more fans into it,” he added.
With a mini-auction slated to take place ahead of IPL 2027, the Royal Challengers have the opportunity to win the title once again. The current crop of Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Tim David, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam Dar, Krunal Pandya among others have the potential to do the job for RCB again.
(With inputs from Reuters)
