Three IPL franchises are among the owners of the five new Women’s Premier League teams announced by the BCCI. The BCCI on Wednesday earned a ₹4,669.99 crore windfall for the sale of five teams in the inaugural Women’s Indian Premier League (WPL) with Adani Sportsline shelling out a massive ₹1,289 crore for the Ahmedabad team, which emerged the most expensive franchise.
IPL team owners Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals made successful bids of ₹912.99 crore, ₹901 crore and ₹810 crore respectively to enter the WPL.
Capri Global Holdings got the Lucknow franchise for ₹757 crore. BCCI secretary Jay Shah tweeted “Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of inaugural #WPL broke the records of the inaugural Men’s IPL in 2008! Congratulations to the winners as we garnered ₹4,669.99 Cr in total bid.”
Earlier this month, the BCCI sold the media rights of the Women’s Premier League to Viacom18 for ₹951 crore, getting a ₹7.09 crore per match value for five years.
Adani Group, which had failed to buy an IPL team when the Lucknow and Ahmedabad franchises were up for sale in 2021, has made its official entry into Indian cricket by securing a women’s team for WPL.
Let the journey begin. Many were already calling the league Women’s IPL but BCCI secretary revealed the name on Wednesday. “The BCCI has named the league – Women’s Premier League (WPL).
“Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of inaugural #WPL broke the records of the inaugural Men’s IPL in 2008. This marks the beginning of a revolution in women’s cricket and paves the way for a transformative journey ahead not only for our women cricketers but for the entire sports fraternity.
Shah said in a series of tweets “The #WPL would bring necessary reforms in women’s cricket and would ensure an all-encompassing ecosystem that benefits each and every stakeholder.” The eight franchisees in the men’s IPL were sold for $723.59 million before the maiden edition in 2008.