BCCI sets IPL media rights base price at Rs 33,000 crore for five years
The cricket board has done away with the option of composite bid this time
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has set a base price of approximately Rs 33,000 crore (Rs 32,890 crore precisely) for the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights. The BCCI released the tender for IPL media rights on March 29. The media rights will be awarded for a five-year period from 2023 to 27.
The BCCI has done away with the option of a composite bid for the IPL media rights. Star India, the incumbent media rights holder, had won the IPL media rights in 2017 since its composite bid was higher than the individual bids.
This time, the IPL media rights have been split into four categories - TV rights for the Indian sub-continent, digital rights for the Indian sub-continent, special games, and rest of the world (ROW) rights. Experts believe that the segregation of TV and digital rights will help BCCI to unlock value for both the mediums.
Bundle A, which comprises the Indian sub-continent TV rights, has a base price of Rs 49 crore per game. For 370 games across five seasons at 74 games per season, the base price of TV rights adds up to Rs 18,130 crore.
In 2017, Sony Pictures Networks India and Facebook were the highest individual bidders for TV and digital rights for the Indian sub-continent. Sony had bid Rs 11,050 crore for Indian sub-continent TV rights while Facebook had surprised everyone with an aggressive bid of Rs 3900 crore for Indian sub-continent digital rights.
Star had outbid Sony and Facebook with a composite bid of Rs 16,347.5 crore for global media rights.
Coming back to the IPL media rights tender, the base price of digital rights for the India sub-continent under Bundle B is Rs 33 crore per game. The base price for the five-year period is a whopping Rs 12,210 crore.
At the very base level, the BCCI is guaranteed of getting Rs 30,340 crore from the auction of TV and digital rights for the Indian sub-continent. Depending on the competitive intensity, this number could easily touch Rs 45-50,000 crore.
In what will raise eyebrows, the BCCI has also come up with a special package or Bundle C comprising 18 games. This bundle has a reserve price of Rs 16 crore per game or Rs 1440 crore for five years. It includes 18 non-exclusive games like the opening match, four play-offs, and the night games of the doubleheaders. What sets apart Bundle C from other bundles is that it is reserved for OTT players.
The Bundle D for the ROW territory has a base price of Rs 3 crore per game or Rs 1110 crore for five years. The winner of this bundle will get the rights to both TV and digital rights for global markets outside the Indian sub-continent.
The IPL media rights are expected to be hotly contested between Indian and global corporate giants like Reliance Industries, Amazon, Disney, and Sony-Zee.
The tender document will be available for purchase till May 10, 2022. The e-auction will kick off on 12th June.
