The inaugural season of the Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) is all set for a final pre-season flourish as the names of the five franchises will be revealed today (January 25). 17 entities including seven India Premier League (IPL) teams have thrown their names on the bidding table for five teams. The likes of Adanis and Ambanis are expected to be one of the big-name bidders to grab hold of a WIPL franchise.
How will the process run?
The auctions of the WIPL franchises will take place on Wednesday (January 25) afternoon with representatives of all the 17 entities to be present in Mumbai. A close bid process will be used to determine the winners of the auctions and to know who will pocket a WIPL franchise.
A key eligibility criterion for bidding, as listed by the BCCI as part of clearing the technical-bid process, was for the bidders to have audited net worth of at least INR 1000 crore as of 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 the technical bids on Monday's deadline day. The franchises have huge fan presence and will look to expand that having already invested heavily in the SA20 in South Africa and ILT20 in UAE.
Who are the big bidders?
Among other business entities that will be part of the financial bids are Adani Group, Capri Global, Haldiram's Group, Torrent Pharma, Apollo Pipes, Amrit Leela Enterprises, Shriram Group and Slingshot 369 Ventures Private Limited.
Rs 7 crore valuation of each WIPL match
Recently, the broadcasting rights of the WIPL were sold to Viacom 18 who splashed a huge sum of Rs 951 crore. The deal will see each match of the WIPL valued at Rs 7 crore, which was another major milestone in the women’s game.
On the flip side 10 cities are in the running to host the WIPL which includes 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 Stadiums).
Auctions in first week of February?
An auction purse of INR 12 crore would be available for each franchise to build their squads for the first season. The BCCI has not yet formally announced the auction date, but it is expected to be in the first week of February.
