BCCI invites tenders for media rights for international, domestic matches

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has released its media rights tender for the Indian team’s bilateral matches in the country. The BCCI said that the tender document is available for purchase until August 25.

The BCCI has stated that the detailed terms and conditions will be available in the Invitation To Tender (ITT), which can be purchased upon submission of a non-refundable fee of Rs 15 lakh.

BCCI has reduced the overall base price to Rs 45 crore per match for upcoming media rights cycle. The base price stood at Rs 61 crore per match for Disney-Star in the recent cycle. The base price is for TV and digital and is for all formats of international cricket India will play at home in the coming five years.

“The tender process, including eligibility requirements, submission of bids, rights and obligations, etc., are outlined in the ‘Invitation to Tender’ (“ITT”), which will be provided upon payment of a non-refundable fee of INR 15,00,000 (Indian Rupees Fifteen Lakh Only), plus any applicable Goods and Services Tax,” the BCCI stated in a press release.

The BCCI added: “Any interested party wishing to submit a bid must purchase the ITT. However, only those who meet the eligibility criteria outlined in the ITT and are subject to the other terms and conditions therein will be eligible to bid. It should be noted that simply purchasing the ITT does not grant any individual the right to bid. The BCCI reserves the right to cancel or modify the bidding process at any stage or in any manner without providing any reason.”

It further said that BCCI has the right to cancel or amend the bidding process at any stage in any manner without providing any reason.

In the auction, BCCI is offering 88 cricket matches. Of them, 25 are tests, 27 ODI, and 36 T20Is in the current cycle of five years. There has been a reduction by 14 matches in this auction cycle. Five-Test series against England and Australia have now turned into a regular feature.

The last bilateral rights cycle (2018-23) floated by BCCI proved to be a very fruitful one for the Indian cricket board, where valuations, which touched Rs 6,138 crore, increased over one and a half times. In the last cycle, each bilateral match was valued at Rs 61 crore.

This time, BCCI is expecting the value to almost double to Rs 12,000 crore. But industry experts, quoted by Economic Times, believe Rs 10,000 crore is a more reasonable estimate with around 100 matches across formats are expected to be played in the new cycle (2023-28).

In 2018, Disney Star retained the BCCI media rights by paying Rs 6,138 crore for the five-year cycle (2018–23) by outpacing Sony (Rs 6,118 crore).

Last time, the companies, such as Disney Star, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), and Reliance Jio, Disney Star, Sony, and Reliance Industries-owned Viacom18, were in the race for media rights. This time, the battle is expected to be more complex with the Sony-Zee merger delay and Walt Disney’s India business sale.

As per Bloomberg, BCCI has reached out to Amazon & Google to bid for their media rights auction. Business Today