However, he added that a final decision would be taken after January 12, when the media rights of the proposed league will be auctioned, to better understand the economics of the business.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials have confirmed that all 10 team owners have either bought tender documents or sent an official request to buy one for the WIPL team.
Last week, the board invited bids to acquire the rights to own and operate the WIPL team. The last date for purchasing tender documents is January 21, and bidding is expected on January 25. The BCCI has not mentioned the reserve price for the auction.
“We are seeing a strong interest for a women’s IPL,” said a BCCI official, requesting anonymity. Serious bidders, the bid may surprise everyone. Furthermore, the media rights would have been sold by then, allowing interested parties to do their math.”
WIPL will have five teams and 22 matches in the first three seasons. It is expected that BCCI will add one more team from the fourth season, taking the total number of matches to 33 or 34.
Vineet Karnik, head of sports, entertainment and esports at GroupM South Asia, believes the IPL’s five new women’s franchises will attract a lot of interest from bidders as it is a logical brand extension for existing IPL team owners, while others For this it can be an entry point for IPL club.
“Besides this, I can count five other major reasons for this enthusiasm. Firstly, the IPL as a league and format is established and hugely successful; Second, with the announcement of equal pay, the BCCI has clearly demonstrated its interest and seriousness in making women’s cricket bigger and better,” said Karnik. The women’s team is one of the best in the world, and India’s Bench strength is growing faster than we think. You also have to consider that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is a major area of focus for corporates around the world. Awareness and programs around DE&I is taken very seriously and for the right reasons. WIPL can potentially do a lot of good around this. And finally, WIPL has a lot of potential to expand the advertiser base to a number of brand categories that have seen cricket repeatedly- times and would not have been used effectively.”
While there is interest, team owners are also cautious. Manoj Badale, the principal owner of Rajasthan Royals, said that his company would definitely aim to secure a franchise within the women’s IPL. “However, our bid will be a rational investment decision based on our view of the tournament’s potential economics. Whether or not we win a franchise, our commitment to the women’s game is clear.”
Badale said that the WIPL will be a great step forward and as such it is a very exciting time for everyone involved with women’s cricket in India. “The tournament will not only raise the profile of women’s cricket but also the development of women’s sports in the country. We are thrilled to see this growth, having seen and been a part of the impact of the IPL since the tournament’s inception.”
Some franchises including Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals have supported women’s cricket through various programmes. While KKR owns a women’s team in an international league, the Rajasthan Royals have a grassroots cricket program with the Royal Sparks and organize the Royals School Girls’ Cup and the RR Women’s Cup, and have unisex coaching courses at its academies.
“It will be a tragedy if a good IPL franchise doesn’t get a team because the business doesn’t understand,” said one of the team owners. , We’re certainly interested, but only if it makes business sense for us. We’re in business, and when we want to support women’s cricket, we’ll be here to wait and see.”
Like IPL, it is a given that the franchise owners will not be able to make money in the initial years.
On the cost front, teams will have to pay a franchise fee for the first 10 years. player’s purse is expected to be around 12-15 crores in the initial years, while the management and other operational cost is expected to be 10-15 crores.
On the revenue side, the BCCI will share 80% of the central revenue pool – the revenue that would be generated from media rights and central sponsorship – with the five teams. Teams can also earn from sponsorship and gate revenue (ticket sales).
However, two franchise owners pointed out that the gate revenue for women’s cricket is not high, and as the league is scheduled just after the Women’s T20 World Cup, which is scheduled from February 10-26, there is not enough time to sell sponsorships. ,
“If we win a franchise, it will be at the end of January, by the time we have the team and the brand, the players will be out to play the World Cup. It will be only after February 26 that we will get them and on March 3 BCCI is looking to start the league. We don’t have enough time,” said an executive on condition of anonymity.
Women’s cricket’s base is there from an advertising point of view, because they weren’t able to advertise.
The unnamed franchise owner quoted above said that the media rights, while expected to be a windfall to the BCCI, would hardly amount to a huge amount.
“We all know that currently, the best rated women’s T20 match can fetch advertising revenue of approx. 2 crores. A total of 132 matches are expected to take place in five years. even if a broadcaster decides to pay 1,000 crores for five years, it’s over He will have to charge Rs 7.5 crore per match. more teams will rotate 30 crore from the BCCI,” he said.
BCCI official on economics said it will be a bigger crowd and team owners will now make more profits 400 cr from men’s IPL, a small loss on WIPL in the early years won’t hurt. “It’s nothing compared to the value they create,” he said.
catch ’em all sports news And updates on Live Mint. download mint news app to receive daily market update And live business news,