Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
RIL, ADAG to bid for IPL's Mumbai team
By siliconindia
|
Thursday, 17 January 2008, 20:30 IST
New Delhi: When it comes to business, we would have to witness competitions that ignore bondages. Though it is nothing new, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries group and Anil Ambani's Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) are among the major bidders for rights over the Mumbai team for BCCI's Indian Premier League (IPL), according to sources close to the situation. The other major contenders in the fray are Pantaloon's owner and promoter Kishore Biyani and UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya, reported The Economic Times.
Sources said that BCCI is toying with the idea of showing the auction, slated for February 7, live on TV. While it is not known if telecast rights for that event too will be auctioned. "The minimum bid for each team is $50 million and it is expected that bidders will try to bid at least four times more (around $200 million) for the Mumbai team to outdo others," said an official involved with the IPL.
While ADAG group officials confirmed that they had bought the tender documents, a Reliance Industries spokesman declined to comment. IPL will have eight teams from cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Gwalior. Last week, World Sport Group (WSG) and Sony MAX bagged the global audio-visual rights of the IPL for 10 years for $1.026 billion.
Around 32 organizations have bought the invitation to tender (ITT) document so far. This document allows them to place bids for the IPL franchises. With the value of media rights now being disclosed, BCCI expects more organizations to buy the ITT, as the media rights value has a direct bearing on the profitability of the franchise.