HOWZZAT! NO TAKERS FOR BCCI WEBSITE SO FAR
NEW DELHI, December 19: For the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the richest cricket board in the world, it has been a long-standing dream to launch its official website. But recently, that million-dollar dream got a big jolt when four bidders - Reliance, Tata, Nimbus and an Australian company - failed to submit their bids for the web portal.

According to industry sources, BCCI floated its tender for the web portal last month with a base price of $50 million and the last date for submitting the tender was December 17. But to the BCCI's disappointment, none of the parties came forward to bid for the website. Reason? The reserve price of the tender is very high.

When TOI contacted BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi on Wednesday, he said: "We have extended the submission date of the bid till Janaury 24 and I am confident that we are going to get the right bidders for the website. It's too early to say that there are no takers for the Indian cricket website."

However, sources close to the bidders have something else to say. Two of the bidders found the proposal unfeasible at the price of $50 million, while the others want to take up the project on a revenue-sharing basis. Sources also say the BCCI indentified five sources of income from the website, whose rights are restricted to advertising and sponsorship, subscription, gaming, merchandising, sydication and contests.

Industry sources say that live streaming rights will take at least two-three years for genuine broadband to be available with users. Even with the merchandise rights, industry sources say that since the BCCI has sold apparel and sports goods rights, there is hardly anything lucrative. Also, the rights are restricted to online purchase, which anyway is not very popular.

"The web portal has a revenue potential of $15 to $20 million. Having said that, the site would require huge infrastructure and that will involve a cost of $5 to $6 million. Given this scenario, the BCCI should work out a more viable proposition," the source said.