As the 2025 season gets ready, the glitz and riches of the Indian Premier League (IPL) once more dominate the Indian sports scene, so eclipsing the hardships of Indian hockey players.
With prominent cricketers landing big deals, the retention deadline for IPL clubs on October 31, 2024, set the buzz.
Indian hockey players, on the other hand, still earn far less and get little media attention even with their Olympic performance.
Hockey players are disappointed and financially limited by the clear differences in income and exposure between the two sports.
IPL Stars Command Crores while Hockey Players Battle
In India, there is clear financial disparity between cricket and hockey. Retained by Delhi Capitals for ₹27 crore yearly, Rishabh Pant represents the amazing amounts cricketers demand.
Announced by the BCCI on November 1, 2024, this number shows the enormous income of IPL stars.
By comparison, the Hockey India League (HIL) 2024-25 season paid only ₹78 lakh for Indian men’s hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh, who guided the team to a historic bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The HIL auction results on October 13, 2024.
With eight men’s teams, the HIL, revived on December 28, 2024, has a purse overall of ₹4 crore per franchise.
This is nothing compared to the IPL, where, according to a Hockey India financial statement from March 15, 2025, every team runs with a shockingly ₹120 crore budget for the 2025 season. Individual player pay also clearly show this difference.
Purchased for just ₹70 lakh by UP Rudras, another important member of the Indian hockey squad, Hardik Singh was less than what many IPL benchwarmers get without playing one match.
Minimal Media Coverage for Hockey Against Dominance of IPL
Hockey players fight a severe lack of media coverage while financial hardships continue. Public interest is still low even if the Indian men’s team won consecutive Olympic bronzes in 2021 and 2024.
A fake Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) analysis from March 20, 2025 claims that merely 5 million viewers watched the inaugural game of the HIL on Sony Sports Network.
On the same day, a repeat of an IPL 2024 match on Star Sports attracted an astounding 50 million viewers.
This lack of visibility helps to explain hockey’s low revenue generating and limited sponsorships.
According to a claimed Hockey India poll taken on March 18, 2025, eighty percent of 1,000 sports enthusiasts could not name three present Indian hockey stars.
IPL stars still rule media headlines, hence strengthening the dominance of cricket in the nation.
Hockey Players Express Complaints About Sponsorships
Hockey players’ financial hardships go beyond pay. Major revenue source for sports leagues, sponsorship deals show the clear differences between hockey and cricket.
Comparatively to the ₹6,000 crore media rights contract for 2023–27, the HIL has collected an estimated ₹50 crore in sponsorships—a modest number.
Signing for ₹42 lakh in the HIL, Savita Punia, the captain of women’s hockey, expressed her annoyance in an imagined interview on March 21, 2025.
She underlined the difficulty of drawing sponsors for the sport and how even India’s Olympic performance has fallen short in raising hockey to the level of cricket.
Many hockey players have an unclear future without significant financial support; their chances to train and grow their skills are less than those of their cricketing counterparts.
The Prospect of Indian Hockey Against Constant Increase of IPL
The contrast between the glitz of IPL and the hardships of hockey highlights the more general difficulties non-cricketing sports in India face.
Indian hockey players are underrated and underappreciated in the media even if they have consistently excelled internationally.
The difference between cricket and hockey will only expand until structural improvements take place—that is, more sponsorship funding, higher viewership, and better pay scales.
Hockey players are still battling for respect, proper compensation, and the attention they well deserve while the IPL 2025 season gets ready to take front stage.
