IPL's 16,000 Crore Deal: Global Athletes One Could Get With the Same Amount

A consortium led by the Aditya Birla Group spent INR 16,000 crore ($1.78 billion) for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise

Before the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 began, the league saw the acquisition of two franchises. RCB was purchased by a consortium led by the Aditya Birla Group, which spent INR 16,000 crore ($1.78 billion), whereas Rajasthan Royals was acquired by entrepreneur Kal Somani for INR 15,300 crore ($1.63 billion).

With the same kind of money, if one wishes to buy global athletes, whom could they afford? Let’s check out in the following paragraphs.

Lionel Messi & more

Let’s not consider his ownership stake in Inter Miami CF, bonuses, or other deals with the club; if we only consider Lionel Messi’s current salary of around $20.4 million, a football club in India with INR 16,000 crore could’ve afforded him – only if. In fact, not only was Messi's salary affordable, but the PSG deal for Neymar and the acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo were also within financial reach. To be honest, it is a sad reality that such a large amount is invested in IPL franchises but not in football or any other sport in India.

Not to forget, one could’ve even built a FIFA-class stadium, similar to the home grounds of top-tier European football clubs, for the mentioned amount.

Lewis Hamilton & Max Verstappen

If India still had its F1 team, i.e., Force India, and its owner had INR 16,000 crore to invest in the team, the owner could’ve got both seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton and four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel. Given that Haas F1 is the cheapest team on the current F1 grid, one could have purchased it within this budget.

Basketball stars

From basketball and the NBA, one could have purchased some of the greatest names in the sport's history. Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, and Joel Embiid—all could have been purchased together at a budget of around INR 7,000–8,000 crore, sparing nearly 50 percent of the amount used to acquire the two IPL franchises.

Tennis legends

Moving on to tennis, where players are not bought but their annual earnings are calculated, present-gen stars such as Alcaraz, Sinner, Gauff, Djokovic, and Sabalenka could be afforded, given their collective income is anywhere between INR 1,700 and 2,000 crore, which is significantly less than the budget we are playing with.

AI’s most expensive XI

Last but not least, we even asked ChatGPT to buy the most expensive cricket players based on their net worth. Here’s what the AI managed to come up with and still could use only INR 8,673.76 crore to spare:

Sachin Tendulkar ($170M), Virat Kohli ($126M), MS Dhoni ($125M), Ricky Ponting ($70M), Brian Lara ($60M), Shane Warne ($50M), Jacques Kallis ($48M), Chris Gayle ($45M), Virender Sehwag ($40M), and Shane Watson ($40M) = $774 million (INR 7,326.24 crore).

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