The Bar Is Set by BCCI: The BCCI plans to auction five franchises for the upcoming women’s Twenty20 league beginning in March 2023 via closed tender.

The base price has been set at Rs 400 crore (approximately USD 50 million).

The Mumbai Indians, the most expensive franchise that was sold in 2007-08 for USD 111.9 million (approximately), was taken into consideration by the cricket board when making this decision.Rs 446 crore) for Rs 40 per dollar.

People who are aware of developments claim that “the benchmark had to be set somewhere” and that “the BCCI had been gathering a bit of market intelligence on this, keeping in mind the demand and market interest.”

Depending on the level of interest generated by the auction after the tender document is released, the Board anticipates that franchises will be sold for between Rs 1000 and Rs 1500 crore, or even more.

BCCI sets base price For Women’s IPL Franchise at Rs 400 Crore.

There are those in BCCI circles who think a women's IPL franchise might fetch anywhere btwn Rs 1000 & Rs 1500 cr.

Is it a bit too much?

All you want to know about women's IPL is here. 👇🏾https://t.co/0SukY4q0CC

— KSR (@KShriniwasRao) November 29, 2022

However, nobody is yet prepared to publicly discuss these expectations.
People who are aware of the situation added, “The winning franchise will pay the ownership fees to the BCCI over a period of five years in equal installments and continue to own the property for perpetuity, like in the men’s IPL.”

Taking into account the value of the US dollar 15 years ago, the cricket board’s current base price of Rs. 400 crore is slightly lower than the price at which the most expensive franchise, Mumbai Indians, was sold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2007-08 (Rs. 446 crore / US$111.9 million).

By selling these five franchises, the BCCI may be hoping to raise anywhere from Rs 6,000 to Rs 8000 crore, or about a billion dollars.

The BCCI has asked the owners of the men’s IPL teams to participate in the bidding, but the tender process is open to any investors who meet the minimum eligibility requirements set by the cricket board.

If the bids of an existing IPL franchise owner and a new investor match, there is no guarantee that the existing franchise owner will receive preference. The BCCI might be missing out on a few tricks by doing this.

A few executives from the industry have this to say:

• Profits from the men’s IPL can be reinvested in the women’s game if men’s IPL franchise owners are permitted to bid on women’s franchises as well. This will undoubtedly be a losing endeavor for a newcomer for some time. So, how likely is it to last over time?

• If the BCCI does not give men’s IPL franchise owners preference, it may miss out on learnings from existing team owners, IPs, operational synergies, and the traction that can be generated from existing businesses that can be beneficial to women’s cricket, among other things.

• If existing franchises are involved, long-term franchise management, infrastructure maintenance, brand development, and other tasks can be carried out much more smoothly.

Additionally, BCCI can use the Women’s Super League of the English Premier League, which includes all 12 EPL club owners, as a point of reference. In the US, the existing clubs in the women’s NBA were given first rights of refusal in their region.

When the women’s teams were handed out, four NBA clubs took the reserved rights, and four other teams were purchased by NFL club owners.

In this instance, the BCCI ought to submit a very precise and stringent technical bid. The technical bid should allow the bidder with more experience in this field to win if an existing franchise owner and a new investor put in the same financial bid.

Over time, it will be beneficial to the women’s league,” industry voices assert.

In case it wasn’t already obvious, the BCCI will sell the ladies’ IPL establishments and the transmission privileges via a shut bid and not an e-closeout.