Cricket is, even today, without irony, called the gentleman’s game; women’s cricket comes with an adjective. It’s a pointer not just to chronology — the first international women’s Test was in 1934, about 58 years after the men played theirs — but also to how the game is secondary, from pay to funding to visibility, when women come out to bat and bowl. Change began to blow when the Indian cricket board announced equal pay for male and female cricketers. Now the Women’s Premier League (WPL) is taking a huge stride towards levelling the playing field for female sportspersons.

“It will do for women’s cricket what the Indian Premier League (IPL) did for men’s,” says Dhiraj Malhotra, CEO of the WPL team Delhi Capitals. Harmanpreet Kaur, captain of Mumbai Indians, agrees: “WPL is a great platform for women’s cricket to grow. It will give girls an opportunity to learn and gain a lot of experience and confidence. I am looking forward to the emergence of a lot of new talent.”

Kaur’s Mumbai Indians played Gujarat Giants at the inaugural WPL match on March 4. The cricket league will be a trendsetter in more ways than one. India might soon get a women’s kabaddi league, too, following the success of the Pro Kabaddi League for men.

WPL has seen big money pouring in, although it is still not a fraction of what the men’s league amasses. Some of the marquee names bid for the five teams: Adani Sportsline for Gujarat Giants; Reliance’s Indiawin Sports for Mumbai Indians; Diageo’s Royal Challengers Sports for Royal Challengers Bangalore; JSW-GMR Cricket for Delhi Capitals along with Capri Global Holdings for UP Warriorz. The total bid for the five franchises for 10 years came to Rs 4,670 crore.

Big hopes, sporting and commercial, are riding on the league. Jhulan Goswami, bowling coach and team mentor for Mumbai Indians, says, “Women’s cricket will become the fastest growing sport and WPL will be a game-changer for India.”

For Anil Jayaraj, CEO of Viacom18 Sports, which has won the media rights to WPL, “It has the potential to be one of the world’s best cricket leagues and give even other sports leagues a run for their money.” Matches will be streamed for free and commentary will be in Indian languages, which can dramatically increase consumption.

Santosh N, managing partner, D and P Advisory, warns that early years won’t be easy for franchisees. “From the central revenue pool, the share of franchisees is likely to be Rs 30-35 crore. Add to that franchisee sponsorship of Rs 15-20 crore and we are seeing a topline of only Rs 50-60 crore in the initial years. Looking at the sums at which teams have been bought and other expenses like salary and logistics, franchisees are not expected to be profitable in the near future.”

For WPL to be profitable, he says, the future auction of its media rights should follow a similar trajectory as IPL’s. “For that, organisers should ensure that the league is promoted effectively, the quality of cricket is high and matches are accessible to fans and audiences.”

The franchisees know it is a long haul. “We are not looking at short-term gains. We have set long-term goals and moulded a team our fans can associate with instantly,” says Rajesh V Menon, head and director on the board of Royal Challengers Sports. WPL, he says, is a future-ready product. “It will be a revenue generating model in the years to come. It will bring in strong sponsorship patterns, a better brand value and a newer set of fans,” he adds.

Bhairav Shanth, MD, ITW Consulting, says the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should take WPL beyond the metros to smaller cities to give them a chance to consume live matches. “IPL fan parks were immensely popular. These can also popularise women’s cricket across the country.”

Tata is the title sponsor of WPL. Other central sponsors are Dream11, Ceat and Amul. While men’s IPL is out of bounds for a lot of advertisers due to high cost, WPL is a new platform for brands to tap into India’s growing fascination with women’s cricket.

Lakshminarayanan B, chief marketing officer, Ceat, says, “We foresee a surge in the fanbase of WPL. It is going to do wonders for many young players who are looking to showcase their capabilities.” Over the last few years, more and more female sportspersons have been endorsing brands — from badminton player PV Sindhu to weightlifter Mirabai Chanu. Sindhu has a portfolio of more than 10 brand endorsements, including Asian Paints, A23 Games, Bank of Baroda and Bridgestone India. Cricketers Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur endorse more than 20 brands between them, including Hyundai, ICICI Bank and Puma.

According to market estimates, top female cricketers earn Rs 1-2 crore per endorsement deal. Cricketers in the tier below them are estimated to get Rs 25-80 lakh for one-year contracts. Meanwhile, top male cricketers reportedly get Rs 7-10 crore per endorsement while the tier below them earns Rs 5-7 crore.

Virat Khullar, AVP & group head, marketing, Hyundai Motor India, says, “We were among the first companies to support women cricketers in 2021. With the rise in social media and digital media, we will see more women athlete endorsements.”

Puma, which has been associated with women’s boxing, is looking at WPL as a long-term investment. Women’s track and field, racket sports and cricket see a sub- stantial growth opportunity, says Abhishek Ganguly, MD, Puma India and Southeast Asia. Nikhil Bardia, head of sponsorship sales and talent at RISE Worldwide, a sports entertainment and lifestyle company, says women’s sport in India has largely been about individual talent and not so much about teams. It will take two or three years to build a team culture and once that happens, there will be no stopping women’s leagues.

“The commercial market has immense interest in female athletes, especially on the back of what they achieved in the last two Olympics,” says Bardia. Brands are conscious of the high volume of conversations around women’s sport; it is an indicator that fans are hungry for it. WPL could be the right ground for funds and runs to flow, buoying up the sport as the (gentle) woman’s game.