Media Advisory

Oct 24, 2016

Indian Premier League Media Rights (Television & Digital)
The global tender for award Indian Premier League Media Rights (Television & Digital) for the cricket
season 2018 and onwards was issued on the 19th
of September 2016 after a detailed exercise by the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The BCCI team invested a lot of time and money in
framing of a tender with norms to ensure the highest levels of transparency.
It was expected that the new IPL season rights that were to be awarded would bring in huge revenue
for the game of cricket and expectations amongst the BCCI, players and the cricket loving public ran
high in the build up to the award of the IPL tender. This was more so in view of the fact that the IPL
has been successfully piloted by the BCCI with support of all stakeholders to become one of the
important events in the world cricketing calendar and has apart from providing a platform for
showcasing domestic cricket talent resulted in the country being projected as an important sporting
destination. In fact the IPL has resulted in the active building of Brand India and has brought laurels to
the country. The IPL has also contributed substantially to the Indian Economy.
At the time the tender was floated and even till date there has been no complaint by any person that
the tender was being issued in a non-transparent manner or that there appeared to be problems with
any of its terms and conditions. The Potential Bidders who bought the Tender document had
requested for certain Clarification, to which BCCI issued responses in 2 sets. Set 1 of the response to
Clarification was issued on 14th
October 2016 and Set 2 was issued on 20th
October 2016. Based on the
clarification issued, BCCI was subsequently to issue the Revised Media Rights Agreements (MRAs)
along with the order relevant documents, which were not issued on account of the Honble Supreme
Court Order.
The BCCI has also appointed independent agencies to vet the legal, financial and technical details of
the bids as well as the bidders.
In the meanwhile the BCCI received a copy of the judgment of the Honble Supreme Court in CA
No.4235/2014 BCCI v. Cricket Association of Bihar & Ors. dated 21.10.2016 (Judgment) at 650pm
issuing the following directions in relation to tender processes being undertaken by the BCCI:
(ii)(a) The Committee appointed by this Court is requested to appoint an independent auditor to
scrutinise and audit the income received and expenditure incurred by BCCI; (b) The auditor shall
also oversee the tendering process that will hereinafter be undertaken by BCCI, as well as the
award of contracts above a threshold value to be fixed by the Committee; (c) The award of
contracts by BCCI above the threshold fixed by the Committee shall be subject to the prior
approval of the Committee; (d) The Committee shall be at liberty to obtain the advice of the
auditors on the fairness of the tendering process which has been adopted by BCCI and in regard

to all relevant facts and circumstances; (e) The Committee will determine whether a proposed
contract above the threshold value should or should not be approved; and (f) The Committee will
be at liberty to formulate the terms of engagement and reference to the auditors having regard to
the above directions. BCCI shall defray the costs, charges and expenses of the auditors.

In view of the aforesaid directions, as the Committee has been entrusted by the Honble
Supreme Court with the mandate of overseeing the tender process and in effect is now the
custodian of the IPL tender process and has to take all actions to safeguard the IPL tender and
the interest of BCCI and cricket in India, the BCCI wrote to the Committee on 21st October 2016
itself immediately on receipt of the Judgment, inter alia seeking guidance on (a) whether to
defer the IPL tender or (b) to cancel the same and (c) 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 IPL Media Rights Tender documents to the Committee along with
the Revised MRAs and relevant documents, which are yet to be issued to the Potential Bidders.
Keeping in view the urgency in the matter, the BCCI has informed the Committee that the
tender process being underway there were certain timelines that potential bidders were
following. The BCCI also informed the Committee that a large number of potential bidders had
travelled to the country from outside as bids had to be submitted in person.
The BCCI has accordingly sent requests on 23rd
October 2016 and 24th
October 2016 to the
Committee on the aforesaid lines and requested for confirmation of receipt of emails and an
urgent response to avoid any uncertainty in the IPL tender process to avoid any inconvenience
to potential bidders. The BCCI also informed the Committee that any delay in responding and
resultant uncertainty was hurting the commercial interest of the BCCI as it would lead to
devaluation of the commercial rights that were to be awarded.
The BCCI has also received numerous queries from potential bidders explaining the hardship
being faced by them due to the inability of the BCCI to address their queries and to furnish a
clear roadmap on the way forward.
Today at 3:07 pm the BCCI has received a response from the Committee asking for certain
further undertakings from the BCCI and sought further clarifications. These have accordingly
been furnished to the Committee. The BCCI has received a response from the Committee a short
while ago stating that it is in receipt of the communications from the BCCI and that it would
issue directions after meeting amongst themselves.
The BCCI, apart from the above communication, has so far at the time of going to Press, not
received any further directions from the Committee, which is now the custodian of the entire
process and has been tasked with the duty to ensure that the tender process is undertaken in a
professional and transparent manner with least inconvenience to all stakeholders. 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 tomorrow, the BCCI is unable to do so.
The BCCI requests all bidders to appreciate that the events as have occurred were unforeseen
and something over which the BCCI has no control. The potential bidders would appreciate that
in the past the BCCI has responded to all queries to potential bidders in a prompt fashion and
has conducted the entire process in a fair, transparent and professional manner.
BCCI offers its sincere apology to all potential bidders and stakeholders who have put in
efforts to put together bids by expending considerable time and resources, and have travelled
from all across the country and the world to take part in this event.
BCCI