WPL | Adani bags Ahmedabad for 1289 crores as MI, DC and RCB land franchises
The bidding for franchises in lieu of the inaugural Women's Premier League concluded on Wednesday with Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore set to be the home venues. The Motera Stadium franchise landed the biggest winning bid while three IPL franchises secured a women's counterpart.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday announced the results of the bidding held on Wednesday morning in Mumbai for the five franchises set toย compete in the inaugural Women's Premier League, dates for which are yet to be announced. The five teams in total accrued a valuation of INR 4669.99 crores and would be based in the cities of Ahemdabad, Delhi Mumbai, Bangalore and Lucknow respectively.
Adani Sportsline registered the highest winning bid with a whopping INR 1,289 crores for the Ahemdabad franchise while the Lucknow-based side was worth the lowest at 757 crores, secured by Capri Holdings. Only three of the seven Indian Premier League franchises in contention managed to put up a bid worthy enough to acquire a franchise. Indiawin Sports, owned by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, bagged the Mumbai franchise for 912.99 crores while the Royal Challengers Group had to commit 901 crores to secure the first sister franchise for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Delhi Capitals, owned by JSW GMR Cricket, was the third IPL entrant to the list with its bid of 810 crores for the capital-based side.
The tender document for the franchises floated by the BCCI earlier this month was sought by 33 franchises, only 17 of which expressedย willingness to participate in the technical bidding process. As per ESPN Cricinfo, only 16 of these entities made it to Mumbai. The five bid winners would be liable to pay the said amounts over the next 10 years albeit theย teams would be owned by them in perpetuity in a model similar to the IPL. All the teams would distribute 80% of the media rights for the league, bought by Viacom 18 for INR 951 crores for a period of five years.
The next step for the league is a player's auction expected to take place next month at dates yet to be announced. The player registration process for the event has already neared completed with the BCCIย setting January 26 as the deadline for all interested players.ย ย
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐งโ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐๐ซ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐.
โ BCCI (@BCCI) January 25, 2023
The combined bid valuation is INR 4669.99 Cr
A look at the Five franchises with ownership rights for #WPL pic.twitter.com/ryF7W1BvHH