One of the most popular sports leagues in the world is anticipating a record haul from its upcoming media rights auction.

The bidding war for the rights to broadcast dozens of Indian Premier League matches from 2023 to 2027 could reach $7 billion. The June auction for the 14-year-old cricket league is likely to spur a faceoff between major domestic and international media forces.

• Both linear and streaming rights are currently held by Disney-owned Star India on a $2.5 billion deal from 2018 to 2022. The company streams games through the Disney Hotstar service.
• The league will auction off linear and streaming rights separately for its next set of deals.
• The bidding process will be conducted as a live online auction June 12-13.

Clash of the Titans

Star India is expected to bid to retain its rights, but it will have competition.

Amazon is likely to fight for streaming rights. Ambani Industries, owned by Mukesh Ambani, is set to be in the mix as well. Ambani, who owns the IPL’s Mumbai Indians, is worth an estimated $100 billion.

A new entity created by Sony and Zee Entertainment will also compete. Sony lost out on the previous round to Disney. Meta and Google could enter the fray as well.

The IPL’s 15th season, which began in March, brought in two new teams: the Gujarat Titans, owned by CVC Capital Partners, which paid $737.7 million for the franchise; and the Lucknow Super Giants, of which the Sanjiv Goenka Group took control for $930 million.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has backpedaled from plans to hold the men’s World Cup every two years, rather than every four years.

On Thursday, Infantino said that a proposal hasn’t been made — instead, the previous FIFA congress had merely agreed to “study the feasibility” of a biennial World Cup.

Now, there will be a “phase to find the grievance and to find the compromises,” he told the FIFA Congress.

• Previously, Infantino had claimed a biennial World Cup would generate $4.4 billion.
• Another report found it would cost UEFA and other big soccer leagues close to $9 billion per year.

Infantino’s comments follow several strong protests. In early March, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin said the proposal was “a no-go for everyone in football.” And in February, a survey of 1,000 players found that only a quarter would support the project.

Alternative Options

Innovation around international soccer competition isn’t completely off the table, however. 

Čeferin has suggested an annual competition between the Copa America champions and European champions. FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani also suggested alterations to the Confederations Cup or Nations League.

Federal lawmakers have used the popularity of March Madness to spotlight their own college sports reform efforts. One major issue: gender equity.

On March 14, Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), and Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) sent NCAA president Mark Emmert a letter criticizing the governing body for its equity efforts.

Thursday, they took their criticism a step further — introducing a bill called the Gender Equity in College Sports Commission Act.

• The bill would assemble a committee to scrutinize equity in the NCAA. 
• The bipartisan group, composed of 16 lawmakers, would investigate for 12-18 months.
• It would make recommendations for how the NCAA could change, and how the federal government could “improve oversight.”

“The NCAA has made pathetic progress towards correcting the deeply misogynistic attitudes and treatment of the women’s teams compared to the men’s teams. And this continues even after the NCAA was put on notice,” Speier said.

Since Division I basketball inequities were exposed last year, the NCAA has made a number of improvements — though several long-term changes haven’t been acted upon yet. 

Lawmakers’ Big Stage

On Tuesday, Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced a bill related to reforming the NCAA’s infractions process. 

Wednesday, Booker and several other Democrats hosted a virtual panel on college athlete empowerment, health and safety, and gender equity.

Private equity firm HighPost, co-founded by Jeff Bezos’ brother Mark Bezos, has acquired digital fitness platform Centr and exercise equipment maker Inspire Fitness in a deal that will see the two companies merge.

The combined entity is reportedly valued at more than $200 million including debt. Centr founder and “Thor” actor Chris Hemsworth is the company’s second-largest shareholder.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Inspire Fitness, which designs, manufactures, and distributes fitness equipment, will merge with Centr — which provides workouts, nutrition, and mindfulness content — under the Centr, LLC name. 

Centr already has more than 200,000 subscribers since launching in 2019. The platform’s three subscription tiers run for $10, $20, and $29.99 per month. 

• The platform has traction in North America and Australia, but will look to expand in Southeast Asia and Europe.
• Australian-born Hemsworth, who will continue his involvement with the company, said it plans to add other languages to the platform.

HighPost’s High Hopes

“Our model shows subscribers growing to 700,000 in four years, but I think it’s going to be much bigger than that,” said David Moross, HighPost’s co-founder, chairman, and CEO.

Hemsworth added, “There are endless options in terms of what we can provide customers, in how we can improve.”