Lalit Modi

And then there's upside from sponsorships that Lalit might go sell, but he needed to get the franchises in place before he sells the sponsorships.

And then there's upside from sponsorships that Lalit might go sell, but he needed to get the franchises in place before he sells the sponsorships.

Bingo. TV rights alone, $5 million in cash coming in each year. And remember what he told Shah Rukh Khan, what's the deal on the franchise fees? Paid over 10 years, but I'm going to let you pay the effective minimum price in year one, only $5 million in year one. magically, it works out. You get a free franchise for the first year. Amazing. Amazing. No matter what you bid.

Bingo. TV rights alone, $5 million in cash coming in each year. And remember what he told Shah Rukh Khan, what's the deal on the franchise fees? Paid over 10 years, but I'm going to let you pay the effective minimum price in year one, only $5 million in year one. magically, it works out. You get a free franchise for the first year. Amazing. Amazing. No matter what you bid.

And guess what? Magically, once all the central sponsorships are sold, it ends up being... $10 million per team distributed from the central revenue pool. Exactly the straw man that you are setting up, Ben.

And guess what? Magically, once all the central sponsorships are sold, it ends up being... $10 million per team distributed from the central revenue pool. Exactly the straw man that you are setting up, Ben.

And it's an asset-light business model. You don't have to invest any balance sheet dollars. There's no stadiums, no hard assets, etc., Well, if you are a smart sports investor, the first most important question you would ask next is... What's the salary cap? What's the salary cap? What about the players?

And it's an asset-light business model. You don't have to invest any balance sheet dollars. There's no stadiums, no hard assets, etc., Well, if you are a smart sports investor, the first most important question you would ask next is... What's the salary cap? What's the salary cap? What about the players?

Yes. And what makes the IPL unique relative to every other sports league in the world, what they uniquely innovate on this is the auction system. Players in the IPL are auctioned off just like a Sotheby's auction, like a piece of fine art, or as the media say when covering it, like cattle and sheep. It's like the draft, but with money. It is the draft with money.

Yes. And what makes the IPL unique relative to every other sports league in the world, what they uniquely innovate on this is the auction system. Players in the IPL are auctioned off just like a Sotheby's auction, like a piece of fine art, or as the media say when covering it, like cattle and sheep. It's like the draft, but with money. It is the draft with money.

And it is absolutely freaking brilliant. But before we tell the story of the IPL auction, now is a great time to thank a friend of the show, Fundrise.

And it is absolutely freaking brilliant. But before we tell the story of the IPL auction, now is a great time to thank a friend of the show, Fundrise.

Totally. This had been tried in the past, but never really worked. Fast forward to today, Fundrise has invested in great companies like Databricks, Canva, Anduril, Ramp, fellow friends of the show Vanta and Anthropic, and also Service Titan, which just went public in December.

Totally. This had been tried in the past, but never really worked. Fast forward to today, Fundrise has invested in great companies like Databricks, Canva, Anduril, Ramp, fellow friends of the show Vanta and Anthropic, and also Service Titan, which just went public in December.

Yep. When the service titan IPO happened, thanks to Fundrise, tens of thousands of regular investors got to celebrate alongside VCs, LPs, and employees. And timing really is everything. Fundrise is doing this at a moment where, thanks to AI, there's more value being created than ever in the technology sector of the economy.

Yep. When the service titan IPO happened, thanks to Fundrise, tens of thousands of regular investors got to celebrate alongside VCs, LPs, and employees. And timing really is everything. Fundrise is doing this at a moment where, thanks to AI, there's more value being created than ever in the technology sector of the economy.

It is tied as top priority for the most important thing to know, along with how the central revenue is getting distributed. Because by far the biggest expense for any premier sports team attracting the best players in the world is player salaries. Put aside capital expenditures and potential debt payments for stadiums. That's not part of this league.

It is tied as top priority for the most important thing to know, along with how the central revenue is getting distributed. Because by far the biggest expense for any premier sports team attracting the best players in the world is player salaries. Put aside capital expenditures and potential debt payments for stadiums. That's not part of this league.

And that makes sense, by the way, that player salaries should be your biggest expense because that is the most important raw ingredient to your business. Yep. So different leagues have different ways of dealing with this in different sports. And we talked about this a little already, but I would say until the IPL auction innovation,

And that makes sense, by the way, that player salaries should be your biggest expense because that is the most important raw ingredient to your business. Yep. So different leagues have different ways of dealing with this in different sports. And we talked about this a little already, but I would say until the IPL auction innovation,