CRICKET INDIA

IPL rights: CoA likely to back existing bid process

vinod-rai-pti [File] Vinod Rai, the head of BCCI Committee of Administrators | PTI

On August 22, lawyers representing the Committee of Administrators headed by Vinod Rai are likely to assure the Supreme Court that it will be following a completely transparent and fair process of auction of its telecast rights for the Indian Premier League and that it is aimed at the rights achieving their maximum potential. THE WEEK has also learnt that  lawyers representing the CoA and the BCCI will tell the court that since the bidding process is already underway, it cannot change the process midway.  The CoA will also inform the apex court that the bidders, its lawyers Amarchand Mangaldas and representatives  of accounting firm Deloitte will all be present in the room when all bids will be opened on August 28.

The Supreme Court had asked the CoA to assist it on the matter after hearing a petition filed by BJP MP Subramanium Swamy on July 11  asking why broadcast rights for cricket were not being sold through e-auction.  The last date for buying tender document will be August 24, 2017,  and the winner will be announced on August 28. The rights—satellite and digital—would be for 5 years and are expected to fetch the BCCI an unprecedented Rs 18,000 crore!

It may be noted that following the high profile coal and spectrum scams, e-auctions are conducted in the public sector. In an area where the auction is expected to be a tight race amongst interested parties, e-auction becomes a viable way to go about. 

The big fight in the BCCI rights will be in digital space and therefore it is reliably learnt that a few major players in the hunt were reportedly keen on e-auction. 

The decision to go with the closed bidding system was taken even as there were some murmurs within the BCCI to go for e-auction. However the process was initiated at the time when Anurag Thakur was the BCCI president. CoA has reportedly opted for status quo as it was convinced by the BCCI executives that “e-auction is not the best suited process for the sale of IPL media rights as it is estimated that the bid will generate revenue beyond expectations.”  

The IPL title rights were bagged by Pepsi in 2012 for Rs 396.8 crore for a duration of five years. The contract was transferred in October 2015 after which VIVO stepped in to buy the title rights of the IPL, shelling out nearly Rs 200 crore more for the year 2016 and 2017. 

Belying BCCI old guard's concerns that value of cricket rights overall were in decline, the CoA supervised the sponsorship rights for Indian teams and the IPL title sponsorship rights. Oppo won the sponsorship rights of the Indian cricket teams for Rs 1,079 crore for a period of five years,  a jump of 432 per cent; the previous rights were bought by Star India for Rs 203 crore. 

The IPL Title rights were snapped up by VIVO for Rs 2,199 crore—a jump of 554 per cent in value from the Rs 203 crore that they had got earlier. 

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Topics : #IPL | #BCCI

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