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Eight out of ten franchises in the Men’s Indian Premier League (IPL) are in a race to own teams in the inaugural edition of the Women’s IPL, which will start from March this year with five teams.
As per a report, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to announce the winning cities along with the franchises owning the teams when it opens the sealed bids on January 25.
The report also confirmed that Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals and defending IPL champions Gujarat Titans will be submitting bids.
On the other hand, the remaining two franchises – Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants, did not confirm whether they had bought the tender document and whether they would enter the bidding for teams in Women’s IPL.
On January 3, the BCCI had put out an Invitation to tender (ITT) document asking for “reputed entities” to acquire the right to own and operate a team in Women’s IPL, through a tender process. It asked for interested parties to make a non-refundable payment of INR 5 lakh (USD 6000 approx.) plus 90,000/- GST (only for Indian entity) by January 21 to claim the “invitation to tender” for the same.
The report added that January 23 is the deadline to submit the technical bids for evaluation, which the BCCI will conduct along with the Mumbai-based law firm Argus Partners.
The IPL teams are not the only entities to have bought the tender document which was released by the BCCI.
“The BCCI has listed 10 Indian cities and the venues in the tender, which allows a single party to bid for more than one city. There is no base price set, and bids will be accepted for 10 years (2023-32),” it added.
As per the eligibility criteria listed in the tender documentby the BCCI, the audited net worth of the bidder must be at least INR 1000 crore as of March 31, 2022. Consortiums or joint-ventures companies, the BCCI has said, are not eligible.
The BCCI has also included a key clause in the selection of the winning bid, saying it would not be “obliged to accept highest monetary offer”. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had laid down similar clause when it sold media rights for women’s global events for the 2023-27 period last year.
The BCCI will look at the vision bidders have towards enhancing the profile and accelerating the growth of women’s cricket in India.
Listing the objectives it desired in a potential successful bidder, the BCCI said: “establishing a stable, successful, financially secure, long-term Franchise to participate in the League; ensuring the widest coverage and the widest possible audience for the League; assisting in the development of the game of women’s cricket in India at all levels; maximizing and enhancing exposure, wherever possible, for each of the official sponsors of the League; increasing and enhancing exposure for women’s cricket in India both within India and the rest of the world.”
The BCCI has set aside March as the window for the Women’s IPL (WIPL) in the tender. While the BCCI has not officially announced the dates for the inaugural season, it is expected to start around March 5 and finish around March 23.
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