BCCI recently auctioned off the IPL broadcasting rights to Star India and Viacom18

While Star India's winning bid was worth INR 23,575, Viacom shelled out INR 23,758, with the total outlay for the broadcasting rights adding up to an eye-watering sum of INR 48,390, one of the most expensive in the world. 

Despite the fact that ICC have decided to opt-out of an e-auction and keep the tender as a closed bid event, the broadcasters put forth the closed bid auctions and asked for an e-auction.

However, ICC have confirmed that the closed bid decision was taken by the executive members and that the winning bid won't be made public. 

Greg Barclay, when questioned about the secrecy of the winning bid, was firm with his stand.

He added that ICC is convinced of a closed bid. However, administrators can have a different view on it. ICC has calculated all the possible approaches and found the best one. ICC have offered a 4-year and an 8-year bid and are firm with their decision. 

"The ICC's tender document is expected to mandate that after the closed bids come in - the broadcasters have a choice to put in a bid of four years or eight years or both - the ICC's internal team will study the bids and only reveal the winning bid and no other detail.

"There are alternative views that the broadcasters hold, I know, who would prefer to do it differently. But they're our rights and we've chosen to take them to market and as I say, that's based on some fairly extensive research, advice and understanding of the market. So, we've decided that we will hit the market on that basis." he concluded.