The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday closed the bids for the media rights of the upcoming Women’s IPL. Viacom18 left behind other bidders, including Disney Star and Sony, in the auction.
The Viacom group already has digital rights for the Men’s IPL and won the bid for the women’s league by committing a whopping price of INR 951 crore for five years, i.e. from 2023 to 2027. The bidding amount would have a per-match-value of INR 7.09 crore during the five-year period.
Meanwhile, the players’ auction for Women’s IPL will take place next month. The base prices of players for the auction are divided into five categories starting from INR 10 lakh up to INR 50 lakh. The capped players’ base price will be set at INR 30 Lakh, 40 Lakh and 50 Lakh, but for uncapped, it will be INR 10 and 20 Lakh.
The inaugural edition of WIPL is scheduled to begin in the first week of March – before the men’s edition starts. The first three seasons of the tournament (2023-25) are set to have 22 matches each.
Each of the five teams will play the other twice in the league stage, followed by an Eliminator between the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams. Then, a final between the winner of Eliminator and the table-topper will take place. From the 2026 season, the Women’s IPL will have 33 or 34 matches.
As per the reports, for India internationals Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami can come out of retirement to play in the maiden season of Women’s IPL. The organizers are in constant touch with these two legends who gave too much to Indian cricket.
Both Mithali and Jhulan played international cricket for almost two decades and have established a strong connection with fans not only in India but across the world.
