WIPL: On January 25th, BCCI will announce the names of the five franchises competing in the inaugural Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) and the cities in which they will operate.
On this date, financial offers for these franchises, which are currently being filed in sealed envelopes, will be opened. However, BCCI has indicated in its tender documents that it is “not obligated to accept the highest bid”. It will also seek ways for bidders to promote the growth of women’s cricket in India.
Last week, BCCI issued documents exposing bids to own and operate five franchises in WIPL, which are scheduled to run on March 5-23.
In its tender (ITT) document, whose outline was referenced by ESPNcricinfo, BCCI indicates that one bidder can bid on multiple cities.
WIPL offers 10 cities
BCCI narrowed down to 10 potential cities and included venues and capacity for each in the bid. The list includes
- Ahmedabad (Narendra Modi Stadium, capacity 112,560),
- Kolkata (Eden Gardens, capacity 65,000),
- Chennai (MA Chidambaram Stadium, capacity 50,000),
- Bangalore (M Chinnaswamy Stadium, capacity 42,000),
- Delhi (Arun Jaitley) Stadium, 55,000) and
- Dharamsala (Mumbai)
The current plan to have a 10-city pool differs from that first presented to the National Associations by BCCI at last year’s Annual Membership Meeting. At the time, the BCCI said they intended to host the tournament in half a dozen cities that didn’t have enough homes for five teams. Or they either choose one city from each of the six zones across the country.
The remaining seven cities, excluding Dharamsala, Guwahati, and Indore, are already home to men’s IPL teams. BCCI did not set a base price, but bidders were asked to provide prices for 10 seasons. Bidders are given the opportunity to bid on multiple franchises/cities, but BCCI says the winning bidder will only receive one franchise.
BCCI said, “the stadium with the highest bid will be awarded first”. “Then the stadium with the next highest bid wins the contract.” If the two highest bids for one venue are the same, BCCI has announced that it will re-bid. When two different bidders have the same highest bid for their two venues, BCCI has “discretion to determine the order”.
Franchises taking 80% from the central revenue pool
According to ITT information, the first three seasons (2023-25) will have 22 games each. During the WIPL league phase, each team will play twice against the other team (20 games total), with the league leader going straight to the finals. The team finished second in the league and the third-place team would play an eliminator to determine the second finalist.
On January 16th, BCCI will open a sealed bid for WIPL media rights.
According to the IPL, media rights revenue is an integral part of the revenue earned by both BCCI and its franchises. BCCI has again opted to stick to the same revenue-sharing formula he used in the IPL to distribute to franchises from a central revenue pool.
“The authority pays his franchisee 80% of all royalties income for the central team each year,” said the ITT executive. “BCCI will pay franchisees 80% of Central Rights revenues for the first five years, 60% for the next five years, and 50% thereafter.”
