In a statement to the stock exchanges, Diageo-owned United Spirits Ltd announced that it has initiated a strategic review of the investment in its wholly owned subsidiary, Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited (RCSPL), which owns the company’s cricket franchise. The company further said that it expects the process of review to conclude by March 31, 2026. RCSPL owns the “Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)” franchise teams that participate in the Men’s Indian Premier League (IPL) and Women’s Premier League (WPL) cricket tournaments hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) annually.

“RCSPL has been a valuable and strategic asset for USL; however, it’s non-core to our alcobev business. This step reinforces USL’s and Diageo’s commitment to continue reviewing its India enterprise portfolio to enable sustained delivery of long-term value to all its stakeholders, while keeping RCSPL’s best interests in mind,” said Praveen Someshwar, Managing Director & CEO, United Spirits Ltd, in the statement.

The division earns its revenue mainly from the central rights revenue from BCCI for participating in cricket leagues, sponsorship revenues, and other commercial engagement revenues and royalty in licensing fees. In FY25, Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited (RCSPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of USL, saw revenue of ₹504 crore, a decline of 21 percent compared to ₹634 crore in FY24, and profits dipped to ₹140 crore from ₹222 crore during the corresponding year. The decline in revenue was primarily due to a lower number of Men’s Indian Premier League (IPL) matches played by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru team. As a result, in FY25, the EBITDA of the sports division also dipped from ₹294 crore in FY24 to ₹186 crore in FY25.

Earlier in July this year, Houlihan Lokey, the global investment bank’s 2025 IPL Brand Valuation Study, stated that the value of the IPL as a business has risen to US$18.5 billion, up by 12.9%, and the stand-alone brand value of the IPL has increased by 13.8% to US$3.9 billion over the past year. Also, having won its maiden IPL title, RCB toppled Chennai Super Kings to take the No. 1 spot in terms of both brand and business value rankings. The report valued RCB’s brand at US$269.0 million.

However, following the stampede incident during the celebration event in Bengaluru in June this year resulting in loss of life and injuries, the Karnataka High Court took suo motu cognizance of the incident and sought a detailed status report from the Advocate General, and the management of the company has sought quashing of FIRs filed against its officials. The High Court has stayed investigation in two FIRs; however, investigation in relation to a third-party FIR by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Bengaluru, still continues.