By IANS
Mumbai : The World Sports Group (ESG) Monday won the rights for the Indian cricket board’s ground and title naming rights by bidding Rs.1.73 billion (Rs.173.25 crores).
This amount will cover 55 Tests and One-day Internationals that will be played in India in 31 months, starting Sep 1, said Lalit Modi, marketing committee chairman and a vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), after the bids were opened.
WSG, which is part of the Global Cricket Corporation based in Hong Kong, London and Singapore, outbid Percept and Nimbus to win the rights till March, 2010.
“WSG has won the rights from among four bidders, including 21st Century Media, which was disqualified as it had not submitted all the necessary documents,” said Modi.
The BCCI official said that the winning bid was just over the base price of Rs.30 million per match set by the BCCI.
Modi said: “There will be 55 matches covered by the bid. The winning bid is three times over the last contracted bid which was Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million) per match.”
Bids for the other rights, including for Twenty20 International matches and India’s domestic cricket, will be opened later.