The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in India contested during April and May of every year by franchise teams representing Indian cities. The league was founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007.The title sponsor of the IPL in 2016 was Vivo Electronics, thus the league is officially known as the VIVO Indian Premier League. The current IPL title holders are Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The IPL is the most-attended cricket league in the world and ranks sixth among all sports leagues.In 2010, the IPL became the first sporting event in the world to be broadcast live on YouTube.The brand value of IPL was estimated to be US$4.5 billion in 2015 by American Appraisal, A Division of Duff & Phelps.According to BCCI, the 2015 IPL season contributed ₹11.5 billion (US$182 million) to the GDP of the Indian economy.Duff & Phelps added that the value of brand IPL has jumped to $4.16 billion after the 2016 edition, against $3.54 billion in 2015. The 19% jump is despite the fact that the US dollar to Indian rupee currency has depreciated by nearly 10%.

Expansions and terminations

On 21 March 2010, it was announced that two new franchises – Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala – would join the league before the fourth season in 2011.Sahara Adventure Sports Group bought the Pune franchise for $370 million while Rendezvous Sports World bought the Kochi franchise for $333.3 million.However, one year later, on 11 November 2011, it was announced that the Kochi Tuskers Kerala side would be terminated following the side breaching the BCCI's terms of conditions.

Then, on 14 September 2012, following the team not being able to find new owners, the BCCI announced that the 2009 champions, the Deccan Chargers, would be terminated.The next month, on 25 October, an auction was held to see who would be the owner of the replacement franchise, with Sun TV Network winning the bid for the Hyderabad franchise.The team would be named Sunrisers Hyderabad.

On 14 June 2015, it was announced that two-time champions, Chennai Super Kings, and the inaugural season champions, Rajasthan Royals, would be suspended for two seasons following their role in a match-fixing and betting scandal. Then, on 8 December 2015, following an auction, it was revealed that Pune and Rajkot would replace Chennai and Rajasthan for two seasons. The teams are the Rising Pune Supergiants and the Gujarat Lions.