The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday earned $572.5 million as it announced the winners of bids to own five teams in the inaugural Women’s Premier League Twenty20 tournament, that will take place in March.
Cricket: Women’s Premier League team owners confirmed by BCCI for a total bid of Rs 4669.99 crore
The women’s league will be an addition to the money-spinning Indian Premier League men’s tournament for the world’s richest and most influential cricketing body.
“Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of inaugural #WPL broke the records of the inaugural men’s IPL in 2008!” Jay Shah, secretary of the BCCI tweeted.
Shah said that the board had “garnered” about $572.5 million from five winning bids.
“This marks the beginning of a revolution in women’s cricket and paves the way for a transformative journey ahead not only for our women cricketers but for the entire sports fraternity,” he added.
Three of the five women’s league franchises – Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore – already own IPL teams.
The other two are Adani Sportsline Pvt. Limited, owned by one of the world’s richest men, Gautam Adani, and Capri Global Holdings Pvt Limited.
The announcement was met with some eager reactions from multiple stakeholders such as international players who have registered for the league, the owners and fans.
Cricket: Reactions as Women’s Premier League team bids are confirmed – ‘Record-breaking start’
Former India pacer Jhulan Goswami, for instance, said, “This is going to help our domestic cricketers. I am not talking about international cricketers who have performed for the Indian cricket team but about the domestic cricketers who dream about this and the job opportunities, whose practice opportunities are limited. This will be a great model for that. The franchises will have the responsibility to give more opportunities, groom them at the grass-root level.”
Meanwhile, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said, “I’m actually very excited. We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Finally, the time has come.”
“The amount of games the domestic players are going to get... they are going to get to play with and against overseas players. That is something we are really looking forward to see.”
Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana said, “It’s definitely going to elevate women’s cricket in India and also globally. It’s a very important tournament in terms of women’s cricket’s growth. Women’s cricket has been on the rise for the last five years. WPL was something that everyone was waiting for.”
The BCCI said that Adani’s firm made the highest bid of approximately $158 million to own the Ahmedabad team, followed by $112 million for Mumbai, $110.4 million for Bengaluru, $99.3 million for Delhi and $92.7 million for Lucknow.
The announcement comes only days after the BCCI announced a windfall of $116.7 million after Viacom18 won the media rights for the first five seasons of the new league.
The BCCI last year also sold the rights for the men’s IPL for $6.2 billion for five seasons and Viacom 18 – a joint venture between tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s Network 18 conglomerate and the US group Paramount Global – took the IPL streaming rights for $3.04 billion.
Shah said that the new league would “bring necessary reforms in women’s cricket” and help create a new ecosystem to expand the sport.
With inputs from AFP
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