A US group lined up with NFL ownership money still got outbid for an Indian cricket team.
The Rajasthan Royals, one of the most recognizable IPL franchises, are being sold to a consortium led by steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal's family and Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla for around $1.65 billion from longtime principal owner Manoj Badale's group.
The Mittal family will own roughly 75% after close, Poonawalla picks up about 18%, and existing investors, including Badale, keep the other 7%.
For Lakshmi Mittal, the deal is personal. The 75-year-old executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, worth more than $20 billion, said the only IPL team he wanted to be part of was the one named for his home state.
Adar Poonawalla leads the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by doses produced.
The deal is more than just one team - it bundles in Paarl Royals in South Africa's SA20 league and Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League, putting three franchises across three continents in one transaction.
Closing is expected in Q3 2026, pending sign-off from the BCCI, India's Competition Commission, and the IPL Governing Council.
A US-based consortium led by Kal Somani had the inside lane, with backing from marquee names like Rob Walton - the Walmart heir who owns the NFL's Denver Broncos - and Sheila Ford Hamp, the principal owner of the Detroit Lions.
The group couldn't lock down funding or sort out how to structure the consortium during their exclusivity window, and once that window closed, the Mittal-led group stepped in.
People familiar with the talks said the Somani group's $1.63 billion bid stalled on capital commitments and regulatory complexity, which created the opening for the Mittal team.
American sports money is interested in cricket, but the infrastructure to actually deploy it cross-border isn't there yet. India, with deeper local pockets and faster regulatory familiarity, won.
To put the price in context: $1.65 billion is in the neighborhood of what mid-tier NFL franchises traded for as recently as a few years ago.
The IPL has already passed many other sports leagues globally on a per-game revenue basis, and the Royals just put a hard valuation on what that translates to at the team level.
Aditya Mittal, the CEO of ArcelorMittal, called the IPL one of the biggest sporting leagues globally and described the Royals as "one of its most iconic teams."
Goldman Sachs advised the buyers, while Raine Group ran the sale, with law firms Latham & Watkins, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, and Trilegal also working the buy side.
The transaction sits among the largest sports M&A deals in Indian history.
Manoj Badale, who has been the principal owner of the Royals for years, will stay in a supporting role acting as a bridge between the old management and the new ownership.
The post-close board will include Lakshmi Mittal, Aditya Mittal, Vanisha Mittal-Bhatia, Adar Poonawalla, and Manoj Badale.
Cricket capital is no longer flowing one direction.
