BCCI Conducts Mock IPL Media Rights Auction

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been conducting mock auctions with individual tender buyers ahead of the upcoming e-auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights which will commence on June 12. The cricket board has roped in mJunction, a joint venture (JV) between Tata Steel and SAIL, for conducting the IPL media rights e-auction.

mJunction, which had also conducted the BCCI media rights e-auction in 2018, has been training individual IPL tender document buyers on how the e-auction process will work, a source close to the development said. The source further stated that the mock auction is expected to conclude on Monday.

According to sources in the know, the mock auction saw participation from Amazon India, Disney Star, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), Culver Max Entertainment Private Limited (Sony Pictures Networks India), Viacom18, Sky Sports (UK), Google India, FanCode (Dream11), MX Player, and SuperSport (South Africa).

"The final list of the bidders will only be known by 11th June. The mock auction saw participation from all the buyers of IPL tender," an industry source said on condition of anonymity.

An official from one of the companies which participated in the mock auction said that the BCCI through mJunction has conducted a quick round of training for the tender buyers followed by a mock auction.

"The mock auction was conducted to appraise the tender buyers on how the system works. The mock auction is finishing on the 6th of June," the official said.

Another media executive, whose company has bought the IPL tender document, said that the mock auction has been conducted on different dates for different companies.

Another media executive, whose company has bought the IPL tender document, said that the mock auction has been conducted on different dates for different companies.

The last date for purchasing the IPL tender document was May 20. The tender document was issued on March 29. The media rights will be granted for the period from 2023 to 2027.

The BCCI has set a base price of INR 32,890 crore for the IPL media rights, which is more than double of Star India's winning bid of INR 16,347.5 crore in 2017. The BCCI has done away with the option of a composite bid for the next five-year IPL media rights cycle.

The IPL media rights have been split into four categories - TV rights for the Indian sub-continent, Digital rights for the Indian sub-continent, Special games package, and Rest of the World (ROW) rights for all Territory Groupings and each territory grouping.

Bundle A, which comprises the Indian sub-continent TV rights, has a base price of INR 49 crore per game. For 370 games across five seasons at 74 games per season, the base price of TV rights adds up to INR 18,130 crore.

Bundle B, which comprises digital rights for the India sub-continent, has a base price of INR 33 crore per game. The base price for the five-year period is a whopping INR 12,210 crore.

Bundle C, which is a special package comprising 18 games including the opening match, playoff matches, and double-header night matches, has a reserve price of INR 16 crore per game or INR 1440 crore for five years

The Bundle D package is for the Rest of World (ROW) territory and has a base price of INR 3 crore per game or INR 1110 crore for five years. The winner of this bundle will get the rights to both TV and digital rights for global markets outside the Indian sub-continent.