WOMEN’S INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE
The first edition of the WIPL is being planned in March 2023 © BCCI
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is offering three packages for the Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) and says it is not necessarily obliged to accept the highest bid. It may consider a bid that is in the best interest of the BCCI. The bids are sought for five years and the bidding will be a closed affair.
According to the Invitation To Tender (ITT) document, which the BCCI has started selling, the five-team league will be expanded to six teams after the third season and the number of matches will be increased from 22 in the first three seasons (2023-25) to 33/34 matches in the 2026 and 2027 seasons. The first edition, according to the BCCI, is being planned in March 2023 and Cricbuzz understands it is tentatively scheduled from March 3 to 26. The IPL will follow the WIPL and, as previously reported by Cricbuzz, will start on April 1.
The BCCI is seeking bids on a per match, per season basis and according to the estimate the total number of games will vary from 132/134 in five seasons. All packages are global and no specific package for the Indian subcontinent. The packages on offer are: A: Global TV rights, B: Global digital rights and C: Consolidated bid for global TV and digital rights. Needless to emphasise, the fee for the consolidated bids must be higher than the sum of bids of Package A and B. The BCCI has clarified that it will not allow a consortium or a joint venture to participate.
The BCCI has not fixed a base price for the matches and said: “NPV (Net Present Value) of season wise fee to be considered for bid evaluation.” January 12 is the last day for submission of the bids. The ITT will be sold till December 31.
Coming to the key point, the BCCI has made it clear in the ITT that it is not obliged to accept the highest monetary offer and shall be entitled to consider an offer that, in the opinion of the BCCI, is in the best interest of the board. It has also stated that the consideration will be at the BCCI’s discretion.
It is still not clear who all will be participating in the bidding but the usual suspects are Star Sports, Viacom 18, Sony Sports and Zee TV. There is no information if the digital players like FanCode and Amazon Prime are interested.
The BCCI announced the release of WIPL ITT on December 9 and stated, “Any interested party wishing to submit a bid is required to purchase the ITT. However, only those satisfying the eligibility criteria set out in the ITT and subject to the other terms and conditions set out therein, shall be eligible to bid. It is clarified that merely purchasing this ITT does not entitle any person to bid. The BCCI reserves the right to cancel or amend the bidding process at any stage in any manner at its discretion.”
© Cricbuzz
