No pressure to delay IPL rights, confirms BCCI

The Indian Premier League is one of the biggest leagues in the world. It has mass viewership and the fan following has been on the rise since its inception. It is clear that the broadcasters would earn a whopping amount and therefore the cost of the rights would be huge too. 

A top BCCI official has said that the IPL media rights could be out soon, most probably in a week’s time, and attributed the delay in the process to procedural issues. BCCI has also dismissed reports that the continued delay was due to pressure from host broadcaster Star.

The board functionary has also claimed that the current broadcaster, whose present five-term ends after IPL 2022, has no issues if the tender is released immediately. Various rumors were floating around but thankfully the board has made it clear about what the actual scenario is. 

The BCCI had previously stated that the IPL media rights tender would be out in October 2021. It has however been five months since that announcement but the tender has not yet been put out. Cricket viewers are eagerly waiting to know who gets the rights. 

A noteworthy point though is the fact that the BCCI has since hired KPMG, a professional service agency, on how to go about selling the rights, considered the most lucrative property in world cricket. We can hope that the delay is only helping the board get the best value for the rights. 

According to common views in the market the price is expected to double from last cycle’s value of Rs 16,347 crore which automatically adds up to Rs 20,000 crore because of a 25 per cent increase in the number of games as now there are ten teams and not eight..

The board is confident that they would get some high bids this time around. “We are expecting a very high price. It would be unfair to point out a figure. The tender will involve multiple parties and we are hoping for very high interest from the parties,” the BCCI official said.

IPL 2022 commences on March 26 with a game between the Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders. It is expected that the media rights will be out before the 2022 editions begin.