BCCI announces release of Request for Proposals for staging WPL 2024 Opening Ceremony

Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited bids from reputed entities for acquiring the rights and obligations to stage the Opening Ceremony for the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 season.

The procedure to procure the RFP documents is enlisted in Annexure A of the tender notice. The RFP will be available for purchase till January 29, 2024. Interested parties are requested to email the details of payment made for the purchase of the RFP to rfp@bcci.tv, as per the procedure laid down in Annexure A. It is clarified that the RFP documents shall be shared only upon the confirmation of payment of the non-refundable RFP fee.

The detailed terms and conditions governing the tender process including eligibility requirements, process for submissions of bids, rights and obligations, etc. are contained in the ‘Request for Proposal’ (“RFP”) which will be made available on receipt of payment of a non-refundable fee of INR 1,00,000 (Indian Rupees One Lakh Only) plus any applicable Goods and Services Tax.

Any interested party wishing to submit a bid is required to purchase the RFP. However, only those satisfying the eligibility criteria set out in the RFP and subject to the other terms and conditions set out therein, shall be eligible to bid. It is clarified that merely purchasing the RFP does not entitle any person to bid. BCCI reserves the right to cancel or amend the bidding process at any stage in any manner without providing any reason.

IANS had earlier reported that WPL 2024 is expected to be hosted by New Delhi and Bengaluru. The inaugural edition of the WPL was held in Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai and DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai from March 4-26 in 2023. In WPL 2023, the 22 matches were split into 11 games each for Brabourne Stadium and DY Patil Stadium to host.

Each team will play the other four teams twice. The table-topper of the league stage will enter the final directly. Teams finishing second and third on the points table will face-off in the eliminator to decide who meets the table-topper in the title clash.

WPL 2024 will be contested between five teams – defending champions Mumbai Indians, runners-up Delhi Capitals, UP Warriorz, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Gujarat Giants. The inaugural WPL trophy was won by Harmanpreet Kaur-captained Mumbai Indians, who defeated the Meg Lanning-led Delhi Capitals by seven wickets at the Brabourne Stadium.

60 players were retained by their respective five teams from the previous season, with 30 players acquired by the franchises overall in the 2024 WPL Player Auction, nine of whom were overseas cricketers.

Uncapped India pair of seam-bowling all-rounder Kashvee Gautam and batter Vrinda Dinesh earned huge paychecks of INR 2 crore and INR 1.3 crore from Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz respectively at the WPL 2024 player auction. Australia’s fast-bowling all-rounder Annabel Sutherland was the costliest overseas player at the auction with a paycheck of INR 2 crore from Delhi Capitals.