The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) will auction off the Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) media rights on January 16. There will be certain conditions attached regarding the media rights for the Women’s IPL which will be explained by the BCCI. The condition states if the launch of WIPL does not go ahead by the first week of March 2023, then there will be rebidding process, which will be carried out in the next year. The BCCI had earlier decided to carry out the WIPL media rights auction on January 12.
The clause has been downplayed by a top IPL brass. He said that there is not much to be seen in the clause and he is confident that WIPL will be launched this year itself. However, there is another clause that cricket experts are worried about. The clause says, “It is important to note that once the 5 (five) Teams are selected, participation by a Team in the League is subject to various terms and conditions, and BCCI is not providing any assurance or guarantee regarding the participation of all 5 (five) Teams.”
The biggest debate in the industry centers on how much media rights should be valued, with various opinions on what the likely five-year total may be. It is believed that after the second and third years, when consumers and broadcasters would have a better understanding of the league’s caliber, the value of the rights will skyrocket. The ITT stipulates that the first-year value must not be less than 16% of the entire estimate in this regard.
WIPL 2023 Player Registration Last Date is January 26
The BCCI has announced that the players’ registration process for the upcoming Women’s IPL tournament will conclude on January 26. Players who wish to submit their names for WIPL 2023 must do it before Thursday 26 January. The players can register themselves under 3 base price categories – INR 50 lakhs, INR 40 lakhs and INR 30 lakhs. The base price of the uncapped players has been set at INR 20 lakhs and INR 10 lakhs. The WIPL 2023 player auction will take place in February.
When will WIPL Auctions Begin?
The Women’s IPL auction is scheduled to take place by the end of January this year. It will give the franchises at least a month to prepare for the tournament. From existing IPL franchises, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have shown interest in acquiring WIPL franchises in addition to a handful of outside parties.
The BCCI has jotted down the detailed terms and conditions regarding the tender process in its Invitation to Tender (ITT) document. The only thing that has not been decided upon yet is the base price for the purchase of the teams.