BCCI can’t award IPL rights until it follows SC orders: Lodha panel

NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee today lifted the suspense over the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) global broadcast rights, informing the defiant Indian cricket board (BCCI) that it can’t go ahead with the bidding process until BCCI president Anurag Thakur submits an undertaking to “unreservedly comply” with the Apex Court’s latest orders of October 21.

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

new delhi, october 24

The Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha Committee today lifted the suspense over the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) global broadcast rights, informing the defiant Indian cricket board (BCCI) that it can’t go ahead with the bidding process until BCCI president Anurag Thakur submits an undertaking to “unreservedly comply” with the Apex Court’s latest orders of October 21.

The three-member committee told BCCI that the committee would issue the directives regarding IPL’s television and media (mobile and internet) rights only after receiving an assurance from BCCI that it is willing to “comply” with the SC’s orders.

BCCI was to open and finalise the broadcast rights on Tuesday in Mumbai after receiving “expression of interest” from 18 bidders, including Facebook, Twitter and Amazon. But now it seems, BCCI has been left with no other option but to postpone the tendering process. Any defiance would invite contempt of court proceedings.

“Before the committee proceeds to issue any directions, it would need to satisfy itself that the BCCI administration is willing to comply with the order of the Supreme Court,” wrote Gopal Sankaranarayanan, secretary, Lodha Committee, in an email marked to Thakur, BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke and CEO Rahul Johri.

Last week, Shirke had sought clarification from the committee, hours after the SC’s orders which said all of BCCI’s future tenders and contracts should be routed through the committee. The SC bench has authorised the committee to appoint an independent auditor to look into BCCI’s income and expenditures, including contracts and tendering process, while setting a “threshold value” for all future contracts BCCI enters into.

The committee, in its latest mail, sought details about BCCI’s previous ten-year IPL broadcast rights contract. The committee’s query is with regards to the hurry shown by BCCI in awarding the IPL contract when it will come into effect only in 2018. Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) holds the current broadcast rights till 2017, which it had won for $1.6 billion. BCCI was to award the media rights for the next 10-year, starting 2018.

BCCI defers media rights tender process

The Indian cricket board (BCCI) today decided to indefinitely defer the awarding of IPL's global media rights, scheduled for tomorrow, following directions from the Lodha panel. In a detailed media release, BCCI explained how its commercial interests were being hurt due to the delay in awarding the tenders, while "apologising" to the potential bidders from across the world. "Once the BCCI receives a response from the (Lodha) committee, it shall bring the same to the notice of all stakeholders as 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."