The inaugural season of the Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) is all set to kick off the final pre-season as the names of five franchises will be revealed today (January 25). 17 organizations including seven Indian Premier League (IPL) teams have put their names on the bidding table for five teams. The likes of Adani and Ambani are expected to be among the big-name bidders to grab the WIPL franchise.
How will the process go?
The WIPL franchise auction will be held on Wednesday (January 25) afternoon, with representatives from all 17 entities present in Mumbai. A close bidding process will be used to determine the winners of the auction and who will take the WIPL franchise.
One of the key eligibility criteria for the bids listed by the BCCI as part of the approving techno-bid process was for the bidders to have an audited net worth of at least Rs 1000 crore by March 31, 2022.
What was the deadline for technical bids?
Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals have submitted technical bids on Monday’s deadline day. The franchise has a huge fan presence and would be looking to expand after already investing heavily in SA20 in South Africa and ILT20 in UAE.
Who are the high bidders?
Other business entities that have been part of the financial bids include Adani Group, Capri Global, Haldiram Group, Torrent Pharma, Apollo Pipes, Amrit Leela Enterprises, Shriram Group and Slingshot 369 Ventures Pvt Ltd.
Each WIPL match is valued at Rs 7 crore
Recently, the broadcast rights of WIPL were sold to Viacom18, which invested a huge amount of Rs 951 crore. The deal, which would see WIPL matches worth Rs 7 crore each, was another major milestone in the women’s game.
On the other hand, 10 cities are in the running to host the WIPL, including Ahmedabad (Narendra Modi Stadium, capacity 112,560), Kolkata (Eden Gardens, 65,000), Chennai (MA Chidambaram Stadium, 50,000), Bengaluru (M Chinnaswamy Stadium, 42,000) . ), Delhi (Arun Jaitley Stadium, 55,000), Dharamsala (HPCA Stadium, 20,900), Guwahati (Barsapara Stadium, 38,650), Indore (Holkar Stadium, 26,900), Lucknow (AB Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, 48,800) and Mumbai (Wankhede/DY Patil/Brabourne Stadium) .
Auction in first week of February?
An auction purse of Rs 12 crore will be available to each franchise to build their team for the first season. The BCCI is yet to formally announce the date of the auction but it is expected to take place in the first week of February.