The Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) has opened up the tender process and invited bids for the television and digital rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL), with the last date being October 25 to accept entries.

The contract of Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI), which currently holds the digital rights will get expired by the end of this year.

The companies will be bidding for the contract for a period of next 10 years and it is expected that the apex Board will earn a handsome amount of 20,000-30,000 Crores from the bidding process.

The Indian Premier league (IPL) has become the most popular league in the cricketing world as the T20 tournament draws the maximum audience if compared to any other T20 league played around the world. Along with that, the participation of big players from various countries adds to the attraction, which helps the league to gain popularity, thus benefitting media right holders as well.

The BCCI’s deal with Sony fetched them an amount of 6700 Crores, a sky rocketing amount 10 years back and now the BCCI is expecting big amount from the bid.

The Supreme Court appointed four-member committee, however, is in no hurry and want to work in accordance with the Lodha recommendations.

“The former BCCI bosses were in terrible hurry to do the IPL deal, which was rightly stopped by the Lodha Committee as the office-bearers weren’t eligible to do so. But the current working style of BCCI is to do everything without rushing. It’s, after all, the most important process for BCCI,” a source was quoted by TOI.

The competition to win the tender will be interesting and we might see some new players in the race as well.