Kolkata Knight Riders sits at ₹20,850 crore ($2.5 billion) on the 2025 Hurun Global Private Companies list, placing Shah Rukh Khan's franchise at 270th globally and making it the most valuable cricket team in private hands. Chennai Super Kings follows at 285th, with three other IPL franchises also breaking into the ranking. The list measures enterprise value for private companies based on reported transactions, comparable public multiples, and disclosed funding rounds.
The five IPL franchises now registered represent roughly ₹85,000 crore in aggregate private equity sitting outside public markets, a figure that has doubled since the league expanded to ten teams in 2022. KKR's valuation reflects Red Bull's reported interest in a minority stake last year at a ₹19,000 crore pre-money figure, alongside broadcast revenue that pays each franchise roughly ₹610 crore annually through 2027. The Hurun methodology applies revenue multiples in the 8x-to-12x range for sports franchises with contracted media deals, meaning KKR's number implies confidence that the next broadcast cycle will clear ₹1,000 crore per team per season.
CSK's 285th-slot valuation trails KKR despite higher reported revenue, likely due to equity structure. N. Srinivasan's India Cements holds 73.43% of the franchise through Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited, with no recent minority sale to establish a fresh mark. KKR's valuation reflects Knight Riders Sports' diversified stake portfolio—the holding company also owns Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL, Los Angeles Knight Riders in Major League Cricket, and a 49% stake in a South African SA20 team. Hurun's valuation appears to consolidate the cricket IP under one number, giving allocators a view of what a pure-play cricket franchise group trades at when sponsors like Gatorade and HCL pay eight-figure annual deals across territories.
The three other IPL franchises on the list—names not disclosed in the summary data—likely include Mumbai Indians, given Reliance's internal mark of ₹13,000 crore in a 2023 restructuring, and possibly Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans, both of which raised capital within the past eighteen months at valuations near ₹7,500 crore. Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals remain under majority founder control with no recent external rounds, making Hurun's pricing harder to triangulate.
What matters for operators: these numbers now set the floor for the next expansion round. The BCCI has discussed adding two more teams after the 2027 broadcast deal closes, with internal projections suggesting new franchise fees could exceed ₹12,000 crore if KKR's mark holds. That would place IPL expansion slots above recent NBA and NFL team sales on a per-game revenue basis, and would likely pull institutional capital from sovereign funds that have stayed on the sidelines of Indian sports. Ambani, Adani, and the Maran family already control three of the ten teams; the Hurun figures suggest a scenario where the remaining seven franchises become institutional-grade assets tradeable in secondary markets, especially if the Reserve Bank of India permits offshore holding structures similar to those used in Premier League football.
Several allocators have been running models on IPL franchise acquisitions since the Twenty20 World Cup in June, when viewership data showed cricket clearing 1.5 billion cumulative viewers globally across Disney+ Hotstar and linear feeds. The Hurun valuation gives those models a public anchor. It also clarifies the math for sponsors: if KKR is worth ₹20,850 crore, then kit sponsorship deals in the ₹150-to-250 crore range—currently the ceiling—are underpriced relative to the annuity each logo impression provides against that asset base.
Watch for secondary transactions in the next six months, particularly around Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, both of which have fielded inquiries from private equity firms looking to buy 10%-to-15% stakes. Knight Riders Sports is reportedly in talks with two U.S.-based family offices for a $150 million raise at a $2.7 billion post-money valuation, which would push the Hurun figure higher. The BCCI's next round of media rights for the 2028-2032 cycle begins formal bidding in late 2026, and franchise valuations typically reset in the twelve months before that process starts.
The 270th-slot ranking places KKR just behind several Chinese semiconductor firms and ahead of a German industrial software company, per Hurun's methodology. The next cricket franchise to break ₹25,000 crore will likely come from whichever team wins the next two titles and locks in a ₹500 crore bonus pool from the BCCI's new performance incentive structure.
The takeaway
Five IPL franchises now rank among India's most valued private companies, with KKR at **₹20,850 crore** setting a floor for the next expansion round.
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