NEW DELHI : 8 out of 10 franchises in the men's Indian Premier League (IPL) are in the race to own teams in the Women's IPL, which will begin from March this year with five teams.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will open sealed bids on January 25 and announce the winning locations as well as the franchises that will own the teams, a report said.

It is also said that proposals will be submitted by the Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals, and Gujarat Titans, the defending IPL winners. Neither Royal Challengers Bangalore nor Lucknow Super Giants had confirmed that they had purchased the tender document or that they would participate in the bidding process for teams in the Women's IPL.

On January 3, the BCCI released a tender document in which it requested that "reputable entities" submit bids in order to be granted the opportunity to own and manage a franchise in the Women's IPL. It demanded that interested parties pay INR 5 lakh (about USD 6000) before January 21 in order to obtain the corresponding "invitation to tender."

The technical bids must be submitted by January 23 in order to be evaluated by the BCCI and Mumbai-based legal firm Argus Partners.

"The BCCI has listed ten Indian cities and the venues in the tender, which grands a single party to bid for more than one city. There is no base price set, and bids will be accepted for ten  years (2023-32)," it added.

The BCCI was also quoted as saying in the report that the audited net worth of the bidder must be at least INR 1000 crore as of March 31, 2022. Consortiums or JV entitiesare not eligible to bid for Women's IPL teams. 

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