Viacom 18 has won the media rights for the women’s IPL for a period of five years following the auction conducted in Mumbai. The company will pay INR 951 crore (USD 116.7 million approx.) for the five-year period – 2023 to 2027 – which BCCI secretary Jay Shah called “massive” while making the announcement on Twitter.
“After pay equity, today’s bidding for media rights for Women’s IPL marks another historic mandate,” Shah said. “It’s a big and decisive step for empowerment of women’s cricket in India, which will ensure participation of women from all ages. A new dawn indeed!”
The two major differences between the sale of the men’s and the women’s media rights were that the women’s rights did not have a base price unlike the men’s, and that the men’s rights were split across multiple categories and regions in an auction process that stretched for three days.
The inaugural women’s IPL is expected to have five teams, which will get 80% from the central commercial pool, of which the media rights constitutes a major part.
The BCCI has shortlisted a pool of ten cities from across India. The five teams will be associated with a city each.
ESPNcricinfo had earlier reported that the owners of men’s IPL teams Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans are among those to have submitted bids for the women’s IPL. The BCCI has set January 23 as the deadline to submit the technical bids for evaluation. As compared to the media rights, the rights to own teams would be for a ten-year period (2023-32).
Though the official dates are not out yet, it is understood that the first season of the women’s IPL will take place from March 5 to 23 – before the men’s edition starts. The first three seasons of the tournament (2023-25) are set to have 22 matches each. Each of the five teams will play the other twice (a total of 20 matches) in the league stage, followed by an Eliminator between the teams that finish second and third, and then a final between the winner of the Eliminator and the table-topper. From the 2026 season, the WIPL will feature 33 or 34 matches.
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