MUMBAI: After multiple delays, the invitation to tender (ITT) for the media rights to world cricket’s most valuable property will reportedly be issued next week.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah has told Times of India that the Indian Premier League’s media rights will be given through an e-auction. And the time frame for putting together bids? All of one week, SportzPower understands, though when exactly is the start time for said week is still up in the air.
“Doing our best to acquire the justified value that a brand like IPL warrants is definitely on top of my mind. At the same time, we will also maintain complete transparency,” Shah told TOI.
“That is one of the reasons why the media rights will be awarded through an e-auction. You can gauge the popularity of the league and the confidence of the investors from the interest it generated and the valuation that the two teams attracted,” Shah further told the daily.
“The level of interest in securing this property is huge. We had deliberations and analysed different ways to conduct the tender process. We were very clear that the process we shortlist should fetch the league the right value it deserves while the process must remain transparent throughout. The e-auction will provide bidders with an equal and fair platform to stake their claims.”
As for the (multiple) billion dollar question of how many games per season will be played over the five year tenure of the rights that run from 2023 to 2027, TOI’s Shrinivas Rao (who interviewed Shah) offered some insider inputs on his Twitter handle:
2023 and 2024 – 74 games (while it was always known that 2023 would have 74 games, the reason for the number staying as is in 2024 as well is because the next general elections are scheduled for 2024)
2025 – 84 games
2026 and 2027 – 94 games
Base Price for composite bids – Rs 32,000 crores
Rights Packages on offer – 4
TV – India
Digital – India
20 games non exclusive rights (broadly following the Premier League media rights model where Amazon has taken 20 games, but in their case the rights package is exclusive)
Rest of World
