IPL e-auction: BCCI reacts to Subramanian Swamy's plea in SC; says cricket is not coal

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly reacted to Subramanian Swamy's plea in the Supreme Court which demanded more transparency in the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights auction process, saying cricket is not coal.

On Friday, the apex court gave the Indian cricket board a two-week notice to reply to the petition filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, who claimed that the ongoing bidding as "sham auction".

"India has seen two of the biggest scams in coal and spectrum allocation over the last decade due to non-transparency in process of allocation. The economic value with cricket rights is no less," Swamy wrote in his letter to the Justice RM Lodha Committee before approaching the SC.

The TOI on Saturday reported, quoting a BCCI insider, that following e-auction will not allow world's most famous T20 league to maximize its revenue to the fullest.

The source also told the publication that there's a difference in selling a sports property and coal.

"Cricket is not coal. We'll certainly explain this point in our reply," TOI quoted the source as saying.

Taking cognizance of the petition, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and AM Khanwilkar issued the notice to the cricket board and asked it to file a response within two weeks.

With August 28 set for the declaration of the winning bid, the bench posted the case for hearing to a week before on August 22. The distribution process for the bid is scheduled to begin on August 17.

The BCCI had announced that the next cycle of rights will be for five years. As of now, Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) holds the television rights, while Star India is in possession of the digital and overseas media rights.

The tender process itself started last September, but it was stalled due to the tussle between the Lodha Committee and the board. It's expected that IPL's media rights is worth a whopping INR 25,000-30,000 crore.