IPL media rights: 'Evolving tech' will spring surprise in the digital space, says Arun Dhumal

BCCI, looking to sell media rights for the Indian Premier League (IPL) on television and the internet over the next five years, concluded a mock auction for potential bidders on Monday. The cricket board carried this out over the period of four days to get the bidding players accustomed to the e-auction process, a relatively new concept for many.

The e-auction is scheduled to begin coming Sunday, June 12, and conclude over the next 24 to 48 hours depending on how aggressive the bidding process gets. Meanwhile, the BCCI is giving itself a pat on the back for taking this decision to avoid calling for a closed bid and go for an e-auction.

"The transparency of the bidding process is most crucial here. In this day and age, given the expected value of rights, approaching an exercise of this magnitude by calling for closed bids just doesn't work," BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal, who has been among the leading office-bearers overseeing the tender process, told TOI.

In 2017, when the BCCI had last sold the IPL media rights, the process was completed via a closed bid. Coincidentally though, the preceding months to that auction process saw former member of the Rajya Sabha, Subramanian Swamy, filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court, asking that any rights of such high value cannot be called for via a closed bid.

The apex court, however, had left the matter for the BCCI to decide and five years later, even though the cricket board was under no obligation whatsoever to call for an e-auction, it did so to keep the process as transparent as possible. "In 2017, we saw an intense bidding process but remember, the difference between what Star (now Disney) bid and a combination of individual bids that came in was