{"id":783025,"date":"2026-03-24T17:21:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news24online.com\/?p=783025"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T12:35:21","slug":"this-indian-origin-man-buys-rajasthan-royals-for-rs-13600000000-ahead-of-ipl-2026-not-mukesh-ambani-aryaman-birla-sunil-mittal-his-name-is-kal-somani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news24online.com\/sports\/cricket\/this-indian-origin-man-buys-rajasthan-royals-for-rs-13600000000-ahead-of-ipl-2026-not-mukesh-ambani-aryaman-birla-sunil-mittal-his-name-is-kal-somani\/783025\/","title":{"rendered":"This Indian-origin man buys Rajasthan Royals for Rs 13600000000 ahead of IPL 2026, not Mukesh Ambani, Aryaman Birla, Sunil Mittal, his name is&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Just days before the 2026 season starts, the Rajasthan Royals cricket team has been sold in a massive deal. A group of investors led by American businessman Kal Somani bought a majority share of the team for 1.63 billion dollars (about Rs 13,600 crore). This record breaking price is a huge deal for the IPL because it significantly raises the value of teams that aren&#8217;t considered top-tier giants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who managed this deal?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The global investment bank Raine Group managed this deal, which happened after several weeks of competitive bidding. Kal Somani is a tech entrepreneur who specializes in sports data and AI, already owned a small part of the team. Now he has taken full control with the help of some very wealthy partners including Rob Walton of the Walmart family and the Hamp family who own the NFL&#8217;s Detroit Lions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a big moment for Indian sports because it is one of the largest ever investments by private groups from outside the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who were the competitors in the bidding?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After the bidding deadline on 16th March, the race to buy the team became incredibly intense. According to reports from The Sunday Guardian and Moneycontrol, Kal Somani&#8217;s group won against some very tough competition. They beat out a large Indian company that had teamed up with David Blitzer who is a famous American sports owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What deal did The Royals&#8217; board turn down?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Royals&#8217; board led by Manoj Badale had actually turned down an even higher offer of 1.7 billion dollars from a group called CPCP. They rejected it because they weren&#8217;t sure the deal could actually be completed smoothly. In contrast, Kal Somani&#8217;s bid was exactly what the team wanted. It offered a clear plan for the future and guaranteed that the money would be available immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">RCB worth more than RR?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Because the Rajasthan Royals were sold for such a high price, experts now believe Royal Challengers Bengaluru is worth even more likely over 2 billion dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The current owners of RCB which is a company called Diageo, they want to finish selling the team by March 31. People in the industry say RCB is worth more because it has a massive brand and a huge following online. They expect it to sell for 15 per cent to 20 per cent more than the Rajasthan Royals did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news24online.com\/photos\/sports\/who-is-kal-somani-indian-origin-man-who-bought-ipl-team-rajasthan-royals-for-record-breaking-deal-his-net-worth-is-rs-150000000000-he-is-from-scottsdale-arizona-usa-783072\">Who is Kal Somani? Indian-origin man who bought IPL team Rajasthan Royals for record-breaking deal, his net worth is Rs\u2026, he is from\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just days before the 2026 season starts, the Rajasthan Royals cricket team has been sold in a massive deal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3379,"featured_media":783046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","short_title":"","seo-keywords":"","news-seo-keywords":"Kal Somani, Rajasthan Royals owner, who bought Rajasthan Royals, Rajasthan Royals deal, IPL 2026 news, Rajasthan Royals new owner, Indian-origin entrepreneur, US-based businessman Kal Somani, IPL franchise sale, Rajasthan Royals Rs 13600000000 deal, IPL team ownership news, Kal Somani biography, Kal Somani net worth, Rajasthan Royals latest news, IPL franchise record deal, who owns Rajasthan Royals 2026, Kal Somani Rajasthan Royals deal, Indian entrepreneur in US news, IPL ownership change, Rajasthan Royals investment news, Mukesh Ambani Rajasthan Royals, Aryaman Birla IPL team, Sunil Mittal IPL news, IPL franchise buyers, cricket business news, IPL 2026 updates, Rajasthan Royals takeover, big IPL deal news, sports business India, IPL team sale record, crciket news, latest cricket news, News24","author-reported-field":"3379","author-review-field":null,"article-sources-field":"","byline_field":"","survey_poll":"","ai_generated_summary":"{\"classification\":{\"archetype\":\"SPORTS\",\"sub_type\":\"Team Acquisition\",\"urgency_score\":8},\"primary_label\":\"Key Details of Rajasthan Royals Acquisition\",\"primary_data\":[\"The Rajasthan Royals cricket team was sold for $1.63 billion (Rs 13,600 crore) to an investor group led by American businessman Kal Somani.\",\"The deal was managed by global investment bank Raine Group after several weeks of competitive bidding.\",\"Kal Somani's group, including Rob Walton and the Hamp family, secured full control of the team, having previously owned a small stake.\"],\"secondary_label\":\"Market Impact and Related Valuations\",\"secondary_data\":[\"Experts now estimate Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) could be worth over $2 billion, potentially selling for 15% to 20% more than the Rajasthan Royals.\"]}","faq-group":{"faq-question_1":"","faq-description_1":"","faq-question_2":"","faq-description_2":"","faq-question_3":"","faq-description_3":"","faq-question_4":"","faq-description_4":"","faq-question_5":"","faq-description_5":""}},"categories":[19350,138],"tags":[311937,461484,959,297679,17250],"class_list":["post-783025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket","category-sports","tag-aryaman-birla","tag-kal-somani","tag-mukesh-ambani","tag-rajasthan-royals-rr","tag-sunil-mittal"],"recipe-group":{"preparation_time":"","total_cooking_time":"","recipe_yield":"","recipe_cuisine":"","recipe_rating_value":"","recipe_servingsize":"","recipe_calories":"","recipe_ingredients":"","recipe_instructions_head_1":"","recipe-instructions_1":"","recipe_instructions_head_2":"","recipe-instructions_2":"","recipe_instructions_head_3":"","recipe-instructions_3":"","recipe_instructions_head_4":"","recipe-instructions_4":"","recipe_instructions_head_5":"","recipe-instructions_5":"","recipe_instructions_head_6":"","recipe-instructions_6":""},"embed-url-group":{"embed-url":"","embed-duration":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This Indian-origin man buys Rajasthan Royals for Rs 13600000000 ahead of IPL 2026, not Mukesh Ambani, Aryaman Birla, Sunil Mittal, his name is...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Just days before the 2026 season starts, the Rajasthan Royals cricket team has been sold in a massive deal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news24online.com\/sports\/cricket\/this-indian-origin-man-buys-rajasthan-royals-for-rs-13600000000-ahead-of-ipl-2026-not-mukesh-ambani-aryaman-birla-sunil-mittal-his-name-is-kal-somani\/783025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Indian-origin man buys Rajasthan Royals for Rs 13600000000 ahead of 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