new delhi: A total of 17 interested parties have expressed interest to participate in the franchise ownership auction on Wednesday for the upcoming five team women s IPL WIPL that will kick off, this March. They need to have a net worth of over 1000 crore to qualify. As many as seven IPL teams Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings are known to have submitted technical bids meet eligibility criteria on Monday. The newest IPL teams Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants who entered the league by paying big money in 2021, did not want too much on their plate for now and stayed away. Surprisingly, Chennai Super Kings, who also own a team in the ongoing T20 league in South Africa, did not submit a technical bid. Among corporates outside the IPL mix to have shown interest include the Adani Group, Torrent Pharma and Capri Global. All of them narrowly missed the bus during IPL s last team expansion.
The economics involved in the WIPL are very different with media rights for five years going for 951 crore that s 2 percent of men s IPL rights value. Yet, the numbers were pathbreaking in the context of women s cricket 7.09 crore per match and the stakeholders are excited about how this value could help them make the league a success in the long run. The media rights money confirms for the franchises a revenue share of about 300 crores over a period of 10 years. This would help offset franchise costs payable to the BCCI. The higher they bid, the longer it would take for them to break even. If most of those who have shown early interest, also place financial bids, there could be a few over the top bidders.
