Not passion for Cricket: Vijay Mallya exposes shocking reason behind buying RCB
Published - 06 Jun 2025, 05:05 PM | Updated - 06 Jun 2025, 11:36 PM
Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) owner Vijay Mallya revealed the real reason for buying the Bengaluru franchise. Before the inaugural IPL season, Mallya wanted to buy multiple IPL teams, but Lalit Modi denied his request and he just owned one IPL team.
In a recent podcast with Raj Shamani, Vijay Mallya also revealed that he was the biggest bidder for three franchises but chose Bengaluru as his first-choice franchise that he wanted to own.
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Vijay Mallya’s intention to buy RCB
Mallya had only one intention to buy an IPL franchise just to promote his whisky brand. Mallaya was impressed with Lalit Modi’s pitch to introduce the new T20 league to the BCCI.
Mallya was sitting in the same meeting where Lalit Modi was pitching his idea of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Mallya represented the Karnataka State Cricket Association and ended up being the highest bidder for as many as three franchises, but chose Bengaluru.
Lalit called Vijay Mallya to ask whether he was interested in buying a franchise, as the BCCI approved Modi’s proposal, and teams were going to be auctioned.
Vijay Mallya’s whisky brand promotion
When the IPL was conceived, Mallya thought there could not be a better platform to promote his whisky brand on a global level. Mallaya wanted two IPL teams to promote his two brands, named Kingfisher and Royal Challenge (a whisky brand).
“…He (Modi) was jumping through the hoops. BCCI was quite bureaucratic at that time. He called me one day and said ‘Ok fine, we are ready to go, teams are going to be auctioned. Are you going to buy?’ And I thought in a country where cricket is a religion, what better platform can I have to promote my brand than through an IPL franchise. I got greedy. I wanted one for Kingfisher, one for Royal Challenge (whisky brand). He said you cannot possibly have two (franchises)," Mallya said on the podcast.
Mallya was eager to buy two or more IPL franchises, but Modi denied and stated he could only own one IPL team. Mallaya’s sole purpose behind owning the franchise was just to promote his brand. He admitted that owning an IPL team was very much business-driven.
How was RCB formed by Vijay Mallya?
Vijay Mallya was involved in the bidding wars for the IPL franchises. Mallya just lost the Mumbai team by a small margin, and his second choice was Bengaluru. After winning the bid for Bengaluru, Mallya already thought of the name of his franchise as Royal Challengers Bengaluru to promote his Royal Challenge, a whisky brand.
“Bidding time came, and I was pretty excited about having an IPL team to promote my brands. I bid for three franchises, and I lost Mumbai by a very small amount of money. I obviously chose Bangalore. And it was natural that it would be the Royal Challengers Bangalore. That was how RCB was born," Mallya added.
