No pressure to delay IPL rights, says BCCI

A top BCCI functionary has said that the IPL media rights could be out soon, in all likelihood, 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 term ends after IPL 2022, has no issues if the tender is released immediately.

The BCCI had previously stated that the IPL media rights tender would be out last October. It has been five months since that announcement but the tender has not yet been put out. But it would be pertinent to mention 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.

The general perception in the market is that price will double from last cycle’s value of INR 16,347 crore which automatically adds up to INR 20,000 crore because of 25 per cent increase in the number of games as a consequence of the league being swelled to 10 teams, from eight from this year.

The board is confident that the value would soar to new heights. “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 very high interest from the parties,” the BCCI official said.