The inaugural edition of the Women’s Indian Premier League (W-IPL) is just around the corner and the Broad of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently invited bids for the right to “own and operate” teams in the first-ever edition of the highly awaited tournament.
The BCCI statement read, “The Governing Council of the IPL invites bids from reputed entities to acquire the right to own and operate a team in Women’s Indian Premier League, through a tender process. The Invitation to Tender (ITT) will be available for purchase till January 21, 2023.”
The BCCI is working actively in leaving no stone unturned for a successful launch of the Women’s IPL and after an impressive ₹951 crores bid by Reliance backed Viacom 18 to earn the broadcasting rights for a five-year cycle (2023-27), the BCCI has received a joyous response for the acquisition of a Women’s IPL team with as many as 30 parties showing keen interest.
17 bidders, including 7 entities that own men’s IPL teams, will participate in tomorrow’s auction to buy the five women’s IPL#CricketTwitter #WomensIPL
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 24, 2023
Reportedly, over 30 companies have expressed interest in buying a Women’s IPL team and some big names from India incorporation are among the interested parties to have bought the ITT documents. It is mandatory for all potential bidders to have a minimum net worth of Rs 1,000 crore.
3 days away from the bidding, early trends indicate towards a bidding war between a few renowned business firms as a Cricbuzz report directed towards Haldiram, APL Apollo, Shriram Group and the Nilgiri Group are among others which sees old players of the market, JSW Group and the GMR Group, the Delhi Capitals co-owners, Manchester United’s current owners The Glazers family, the Adani Group and many more are all in the mix.
While all ten existing men’s IPL franchises have also brought the ITT documents, it’s speculated that the JSW Group and the GMR Group, who are co-owners of the Delhi Capitals, could enter as individual players in the bidding war. Reports also suggest that aren’t any Bollywood celebrities in the race and with the ITT date gone by, eyes will now be on the 25th of January when the bidding war gets underway in Mumbai.
Don’t shy in expecting an intense bidding war as the interest in women’s cricket is reflected in numbers that state, in 2022, the ICC Women’s World Cup that was held in New Zealand had a cumulative global television audience viewership of 104.8 million.
Reportedly, there’ll be 5 overseas players with one slot reserved for players from the associate nations in every playing XI and the franchises are understood of heading into the auction with a purse value of 12 crores. While the winners are likely to draw 6 crores, the runners-up and the 3rd placed team will draw 3 crores and 1 crore respectively.
Source: ESPN Cricinfo