Amazon To Drop Out Of IPL Rights Race

Jeff Bezos's Amazon.com Incorporated is planning to withdraw from the competition for rights to stream the Indian Premier League, conceding streaming rights for one of the world’s most popular sporting contests worth an unprecedented USD 7.7 billion to rivals from Walt Disney Company, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited, and Sony Group Corporation, according to Bloomberg. 

According to the company, spending merely for online streaming rights to the league didn’t make business sense.

This move will leave the race open to Ambani’s Reliance, Walt Disney Company, and Sony Group Corporation. Whichever company scores the deal could also bolster its position as a leading media player in a country of 1.4 billion where the tournament enjoys mega viewership. 

Amazon, which identified IPL among a half-dozen global sports franchises it’s interested in, had initially been determined to score a victory, Bloomberg News reported.  

The IPL draws more than half-a-billion viewers and is second only to the English soccer and the National Football League in popularity globally, according to its organizer, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who estimates it's worth at USD 7 billion.