I’ve learned so much since our investment in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, I feel like I was living under a rock before.

• Cricket is the fastest growing sport in the world
• The IPL’s opening weekend drew 400M more viewers than the Super Bowl
• Over 90% of nightly TV viewers in India are watching cricket vs ~ 30% NFL viewership in the US
• Virat Kohli (the most popular player) has as many instagram followers as Taylor Swift
• The IPL is now one of the most valuable sports leagues globally by media rights value

When you look at the investment merits of cricket, you really have to look at India specifically.

• India has the largest population in the world at ~ 1.4B people
• One of the fastest-growing major economies
• Rising disposable income
• Deep cultural affinity for cricket across generations

Add all that up and you’ve got a long runway for monetization through sponsorships, media, ticketing, licensing, and digital distribution.

From a portfolio construction perspective, this creates a differentiated return stream that isn’t simply tied to the U.S. stock market.

Personally, this investment sits inside my Roth IRA so if we eventually get a great exit years from now, I won’t be losing a portion of the upside to taxes.