BCB receives 11 applications to own BPL franchise

The BCB has received expression of interest (EOI) from 11 enterprises for the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League. But no one who participated in the first two editions submitted their applications, after the BCB had terminated contracts with the seven franchises last year due to payment issues.

Afzalur Rahman Sinha, BPL governing council chairman, said that the new franchises have to pay BDT 1 crore (USD 128,625) as a bank guarantee. They have also set a few subjective criteria, including involvement with sports at some capacity in the past.

The EOI were received from DBL Group, Sohana Group of Industries, Beximco, BBS Cables, Blues Communications, Networld Bangladesh, Mediacom Limited, Index Group, Bengal Communications, Axiom Technology and Fiber@home Limited.

"The next step will be to scrutinise the interested parties," Sinha said in a press conference on Tuesday. "We will speak to them [the bidders]. Those who are real sports lovers and were involved with various clubs and sports in the past, will get priority.

Ismail Haider Mallick, the governing council's member-secretary, said that the process of choosing the new franchises should be completed within the next three weeks.

"We hope to start on November 22 or 25. Groundwork has been completed. We wanted to do the BPL with five teams but seeing the response it now seems we can start with seven teams.

"We hope to complete the processing for the new franchises by the first week of next month. They have submitted their expression of interest (EOI). We have already reduced the structure," he said.

Mallick added that those interested in owning a new team must understand that the business model of the BPL has reduced significantly, and it has to be run similar to the way Dhaka clubs operate in the Dhaka Premier League (a domestic one-day tournament), but first they have to ensure the bank guarantee.

"The new franchise owners have to keep in mind that they can't do business here. They will be spending as much as a title-challenging Dhaka Premier League club does. They shouldn't expect anything in return. Those who are sports-oriented, will get preference. They will also have to meet some financial conditions.

"Everyone says the right things when they are taking the franchise. That's why we have put a financial bar that they have to meet to reach the next stage," he said.

Mallick said that if the new franchise owners include any of the old defaulters, they will be asked to be removed. At the moment, BCB's legal unit are in arbitration with the previous franchises for recovering payments.

"We have said it time and again that we have financial dispute with seven franchises," he said. "It has gone to arbitration, not in our hands. Our legal department is handling the matter. Nobody has cleared their debts so they couldn't apply for a franchise.

"Among the new applicants, we didn't consider the older ones. Many of them contacted us. If they clear their dues before we finally announce the franchises, the board will take them into consideration."

Mallick added that player payments for the previous editions had been "done" and only some issues remain with local players.

"Some cricketers have made legal claims. We had said during the second BPL that all payments should be made by the board. But the cricketers received payments from the franchises. Now we can't match their claims. We can see differences.

"We had made Naimur Rahman [BCB director] as the point man for the local cricketers. He has settled most of it. Now we will just have to pay them this month," he said.