Bidders okay e-auction but BCCI wary of fall in revenue!
While the bidders have shown keen interest in having an e-auction for the media rights (TV, mobile, internet) for the Indian Premier League, the BCCI is favoring the traditional sealed tender process. BCCI feels that the concept of e-auction could lead to a sharp decline in the board's income and is also afraid about the loss of secrecy due to this process.
Subramanian Swamy asks for e-auction of IPL media rights
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has appealed to the Supreme Court asking for e-auction of the IPL's media rights. In his plea, Swamy said that since huge amount of money to the tune of Rs. 25,000-30,000 crore is involved, it is necessary that the auction must be completely transparent preventing any one to make undue gains.
Rationale behind Swamy's plea
"India has seen two of the biggest scams in coal and spectrum allocation over the last decade due to non-transparency in process of allocation. The economic value with cricket rights is no less."
BCCI rolls out media rights tender
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) rolled out the Invitation To Tender (ITT) for the Indian Premier League starting 2018. The media rights will be given for five years, unlike the television rights which were awarded for 10 years. 17th August has been set as the deadline to buy the ITT, which is available after a payment of Rs. 6.8 lakh.
SC asks BCCI: Why is media rights auction not online?
The Supreme Court of India has issued a notice to the BCCI asking why the media rights auction for the IPL is not being held online. BCCI has two weeks to respond to SC's notice, while the next hearing on the case will take place on 22nd August. The apex court took up the matter after Subramanian Swamy filed a petition in the court.
BCCI not happy with SC entertaining Swamy's plea
After Supreme Court asked the BCCI why e-auction cannot be held for IPL's media rights, the cricket board has hit back saying that there was complete transparency in BCCI and there will be no special outcome from the e-auction. Moreover, board's advocate AM Singhvi added that there will be a Rs 400 crore loss to the board if e-auction is held.
"Cricket is not coal"
A BCCI official replied to Swamy's PIL saying, "Cricket is not coal. We'll certainly explain this point in our reply. If transparency is what everybody is looking for, then there's international agency Deloitte and law firm Amarchand Mangaldas looking into it."
What is BCCI's fear?
BCCI officials feel that if the bidding amounts are revealed, it will give other bidders an idea of how much amount would be just enough to seal the bid, thus reducing the chances of BCCI earning huge amounts of money.
