GMR Sports interested in AIFF commercial rights tender

New Delhi: GMR Sports has expressed interest in the commercial rights tender floated by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for the men’s and women’s football club competitions. FanCode and Capri Sports (part of Capri Global) are two other parties that have shown interest in the proposed 15+5 year commercial rights cycle.It is reported that Capri Sports is interested in the women’s event offered by AIFF.

AIFF hopes to sell the commercial rights to the competition for at least 15 years. If the bidder agrees, it can be extended to 20 years.Commercial rights are part of AIFF Vision 2047 and include two packages: Package A (indian premier league and Confederation Cup) and Package B (Indian Women’s League, Indian Women’s League 2 and possibly Women’s Confederation Cup).GMR Sports is involved in multiple sports properties: Delhi Capitals (IPL franchise), Dubai Capitals (ILT20 franchise), India Capitals (Legends Cricket League franchise), UP Yoddhas (Pro Kabaddi League franchise), Telugu Yoddhas (Kho Kho franchise), Seattle Orcas (Major League Cricket franchise), Southern Brave (Top 100 franchise), Hampshire Cricket, Utilita Bowl Stadium and Premier League rugby league.After the request for proposals (RFP) was issued on March 2, interested parties were required to pay Rs 2.50 lakh for the tender documents. Interested parties subsequently attended a pre-bid meeting on March 11.The last date for submission of bids is March 19 and bids (technical and commercial) will be opened on March 20.AIFF had previously tried to sell the commercial rights in November, but there were no takers. However, this comes against a backdrop of uncertainty related to the ISL, which finally launched on February 14 after a five-month delay.

The 2025-26 ISL season is currently underway in a shortened format and requires the intervention of the sports minister to get things going smoothly. All 14 teams have agreed to participate in the season, which will feature 91 home and away games.Earlier, the global broadcast rights of ISL were sold to FanCode for Rs 862 crore, which further sub-licensed it to Sony Sports Network. Meanwhile, Kaleidoscope Productions and Services (KPS Studios) acquired global and domestic production rights.