The Women’s Premier League (WPL) got a massive ₹4,669.99 crore boost at the franchise ownership auction on Wednesday, with Adani Sportline making its entry into top-flight Indian cricket by picking up the Ahmedabad team, the owners of the Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals ( ₹810 cr) picking up their city teams in the women’s tournament as well, and the non-banking financial service company Capri Global winning the Lucknow franchise.
The five winning franchisees — who will own the teams for 10 years — trumped 11 other bidders in a closed tender process, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced.
Adani Sportline, the sports wing of the Adani Group, was the highest bidder at ₹1,289 crore, while Indiawin Sports Pvt Ltd won the Mumbai franchise for ₹912.99 crore, Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd the Bengaluru franchise for ₹901 crore,JSW GMR Cricket Pvt Ltd the Delhi franchise for ₹810 crore, and Capri won the Lucknow team for ₹757 crore.
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On the back of the ₹951-crore capital infusion by Viacom 18, on January 16,to become media rights partners of the league, these are being seen as remarkable valuation figures, making WPL comfortably well-placed to become market leaders in the global women’s cricket space.
“This is another red-letter day for women’s cricket after the successful media rights sale,” said Jay Shah, BCCI secretary. “With this, the WPL has become the second most valued league after IPL.”
The auction was conducted at the same hotel in south Mumbai, a short walk from the Wankhede stadium, where IPL’s first eight franchises made a foray into the unknown in 2008, putting together a collective bid of around ₹3,000 crore ( ₹40 to a dollar then).
“Accounting for the current inflation rate,” IPL chairman Arun Dhumal said, “the WPL valuation was bigger than [what was bid for] men.”
All the franchises are aware that breaking even will require patience, as it did in the IPL. But each of them has a different reason to take the plunge. “This is a historic moment for Indian cricket and we are delighted to be a part of it. This new Women’s League will once again shine a global spotlight on the talent, power and potential of our girls,” Nita M. Ambani, owner of the Mumbai Indians, said.
“The Indian women’s cricket team has been doing exceptionally well — and a cricket league for women is a significant step in creating more opportunities for women through sports,” said Pranav Adani, director, Adani Enterprises.
While the MI and DC owners also have investments in teams in the UAE and the SA league; the Adani group, too, has a team in the UAE league.
The RCB owners, however, were saving up for WPL. “We held back all our investments in overseas teams to own a team that aligns with this philosophy and core value, and it gives us immense pleasure to have marked this accomplishment positively,” said Prathmesh Mishra, chairman, RCB.
A number of other bidders participated in the auction but did not see the same value in the league. Shah Rukh Khan co-owned Kolkata Knight Riders came close with a bid of ₹666 crore. Many of the other existing IPL owners — Punjab Kings ( ₹412 crore), Sunrisers Hyderabad ( ₹329 crore) and Rajasthan Royals ( ₹180 crore) placed comparatively conservative bids.
“The moment you start looking at it purely from a Return-on-Investment perspective, it will not add up,” said a key advisor to one of the winning teams. “We all know that a women’s league will take time to grow. But this league, with the kind of penetration cricket has in India, has the potential to attract a whole new spectator base — women who may not have grown up watching a lot of high octane men’s cricket but will want to see the WPL only because women cricketers are playing in a top quality league.”
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“The onus is on us now to make sure that the WPL turns out to be on par with the men’s IPL, if not better,” Dhumal said.
The league will kick off in the first week of March and conclude by month end. The first edition will be limited to two venues in Mumbai, allowing the new franchises to save on operational costs with the limited window available.
A total of 90 women players – 55 Indian and 35 overseas — will be going under the hammer in a player auction to be held in early February. A player purse of ₹12 crore per team has been fixed for the first year, with an incremental increase of ₹1.5 crore every year.
