The Indian Premier League (IPL) is undoubtedly the biggest T20 league in the world at the moment. All metrics and stats support this data, and the coming years might only see it growing further. Which is why other T20 leagues have fiddled with the idea of allowing IPL franchise owners to invest in their leagues, even if it means losing control over the system themselves.
In 2025, The Hundred in England saw the entry of IPL franchise owners who already have their presence in South Africa's SA20, UAE's ILT20, USA's Major League Cricket and West Indies' Caribbean Premier League. In 2026, the target is Australia's Big Bash League (BBL) which has long been toying with the idea of joining the IPL, much before some of the other IPL-oriented associations.
It's only in 2025 that BBL's long-time plans started to see some progress in terms of discussions. Cricket Australia and the state cricket associations have actively been trying to privatise the league through different means. Currently, Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Renegades are two BBL sides that have a realistic chance of experiencing IPL ownership in some capacity.
If the IPL takeover does happen, will the existing BBL sides have a name change like in The Hundred? CA's CEO Todd Greenberg revealed that the decision would be left upto the particular franchise but was clear to maintain that wholesale changes wouldn't be made. The most likely scenario would be a case similar to The Hundred where Oval Invincibles are set to become MI London and Northern Supercharges will be Sunrisers Leeds.
"Personally, I don't think it'll get to that, because I think there's a big difference here. The BBL's been around 15 years, and these brands are valuable," said Greenberg on CA's official site.
"They're well understood by the community. They've got big fandom. That's different to The Hundred. They've only been around a couple of years. You might see that in one or two, I don't know. But I think when people come in and look at the valuations, they're going to look at the value of the brands. And I think they'll want to invest in the brands rather than maybe bring their own."
These are still early days but the BBL and CA expect clarity before the 2026-27 season kicks-off at the end of this year. With stiff competition from SA20 and ILT20, the BBL desperately needs an upgrade in its brand value as it strives to take the second spot among most lucrative T20 leagues globally.