New Delhi:The BCCI has received the central government’s formal approval to conduct this year’s Indian Premier League in the UAE, IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel revealed on Monday.
The IPL boss also said that BCCI, in all likelihood, will announce the tournament’s new title sponsors by August 18. There will be a seven-day window for interested companies to submit the bid.
The IPL will be held in the UAE from September 19 to November 10 in three cities — Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The government had last week given an “in principle” go-ahead to the BCCI to shift the marquee league to the UAE due to rising cases of COVID-19 in the country. “Yes, we have received all the written approvals,” Patel told PTI when asked whether the permission has come in writing from both the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). When an Indian sports body shifts a domestic tournament abroad, it requires clearance from Home, External and sports ministries respectively.
“Once we had the verbal okay from the government, we had intimated the Emirates Cricket Board. Now we have the papers also, so franchises can be intimated that everything is in order,” a veteran BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Most of the franchises will be flying out after August 20 after two mandatory RT-PCR (COVID-19 tests) conducted within 24 hours from their departure base.
The Chennai Super Kings players and staff, who are leaving on August 22, will have a small camp at the Chepauk on the insistence of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The BCCI is also facing problems on the sponsorship front after calling off the title deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the current year due to massive public outrage over the Sino-India border stand-off. Patel, however, expressed confidence that a lot of companies are interested in becoming IPL sponsors. “It is not a setback (Vivo pulling out), there is already a lot of interest (for title rights). Whether an Indian company or from anywhere else, whoever bids the most gets the rights. We will finalise the whole process by August 18,” Patel said.
Vivo, which had a Rs 440 crore per year deal for five seasons, has suspended its partnership with the Board due to the Sino-India border stand-off. BCCI floated the tender invite for a new sponsor on Monday Secretary Jay Shah announced a 13-point clause for submission of the bids from interested “third parties” and the winner will be announced on August 18. The last date for submission of bids is August 14. “The Rights are available for the period from August 18, 2020 to December 31, 2020,” the BCCI press release stated.
“Details regarding the Rights and product categories in which the Rights are available will be provided only to parties who submit the EOI and are found eligible,” it stated.
The BCCI also stated that bidding the highest amount may not fetch the rights for a company if the board is not satisfied with its plans on commercialising its most precious property. “…it is clarified that BCCI shall not be obliged to award the Rights to the third party which indicates willingness to pay the highest fees in the course of discussions/ negotiations with BCCI after submitting an EOI,” the BCCI stated.
“BCCI’s decision in this regard will also depend on a number of other relevant factors, including but not limited to, the manner in which the third party intends to exploit the Rights and the potential impact of the same on brand IPL…,” the BCCI release stated. “…(it) will be examined/evaluated by BCCI in the course of discussions/negotiations with interested third parties who submit an EOI,” it added.
It can now be safely assumed that BCCI will get a lesser valuation for a four-month period compared to Vivo which had the rights for a bigger duration. According to the BCCI’s norms for accepting the ‘Expression of Interest” (EOI), “…turnover of the interested third party must be over Rs 300 Crore (Indian Rupees Three Hundred Crores only) as per the last audited accounts.” The audited accounts need to be submitted with the bid. The BCCI also made it clear that middle-men or agents cannot enter the bidding process and “any such bids will be cancelled.”
“It is clarified that marketing agency/agents are not eligible to bid and any bid submitted by a marketing agency/agent shall be rejected at the outset.”
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Group is among those who have expressed interest in bidding for the rights. (PTI)
