IPL media rights decision put off

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has deferred a decision on the global tender to award the Indian Premier League media rights (television & digital) for the 2018 cricket season. 

The tender was issued on September 19 and a decision on who will get the rights was to be taken on Tuesday.

However, the decision will now be delayed due to certain clarifications and actions required by the Supreme Court-appointed Lodha committee, working on restructuring the cricket governing body in India. The Supreme Court on October 21 issued a set of directions to the BCCI regarding the tender process.

The committee was entrusted with a mandate of overseeing the tender process and is now the custodian of the IPL tender process. 

The BCCI wrote to the committee on October 21 seeking guidance on whether it should defer or cancel the IPL tender and requesting that the name of the auditor appointed be intimated to the BCCI to ensure that he could be associated with the IPL tender. Further, BCCI has sent all the relevant documents to the committee. 

Keeping in view the urgency in the matter, the BCCI told the panel a large number of potential bidders had travelled to the country from outside as bids had to be submitted in person. The BCCI repeated the requests a couple of times and said a delay in responding and the resultant uncertainty was hurting the commercial interest of the BCCI, as it would lead to a devaluation of the commercial rights that were to be awarded. 

On Monday afternoon, the BCCI has received a response from the committee asking for further clarifications. 

“The BCCI, apart from the above communication, has not received any further directions from the committee. Once the BCCI receives a response from the committee, it shall bring the same to the notice of all stakeholders as the BCCI is currently not in a position to take any decision in the matter other than what the committee recommends. In the absence of permission from the committee to go ahead with the process scheduled for Tuesday, the BCCI is unable to do so," the BCCI said in the statement to the press.