DHAKA, August 4, 2019 (BSS) – The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Governing Council on Sunday said that they will send out fresh invitations to the teams that had participated in the 6th edition for of BPL T20 for a discussion on the issue of renewal of the Franchise Agreement and execution of a fresh contract subject to mutually agreeable terms and conditions.
Their announcement came in the light of that the tenure of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the right holders of seven existing BPL franchisees were expired after the sixth edition. Both parties executed a franchise agreement under which the right holders were granted rights to the Teams till the sixth edition of BPL T20 Tournament.
After the agreement the new cycle will start from the BPL-7 which will run till BPL-10 for four seasons or tenure. The BPL-7 is set to roll onto the ground from December 6.
“The BPL Governing Council will take the decision of new agreement by this month,” BCB director Mahbub Anam said here on Sunday after an emergency BPL governing council meeting.
“We have to take decision of how many teams will play in this edition. We’ll sit with the existing franchisees within 48 hours to discuss about the new contract. If they are satisfied with the new rules, they can continue.”
Anam also added: “With the conclusion of the sixth edition of BPL T20, which was held in 2019, the first cycle of the tournament is now considered complete, which also marks the expiry of the tenure of the franchisee agreements with the respective right holders.”
“In these circumstances, as per clause 3.1 of the franchise agreements executed between the BCB and the Franchises, with the view to renew the said agreements, the BPL Governing Council will send out immediate invitations to the teams that had participated in the sixth edition for of BPL T20 for a discussion on the issue of renewal of the Franchise Agreement and execution of a fresh contract subject to mutually agreeable terms and conditions.”
However, in this regard, BPL governing council has decided that the duration or tenure of the second cycle of the BPL T20 will be for a further period of four editions or seasons (7th-10th)
In this connection, BCB has already published an advertisement seeking Expression of Interest (EOI) from interested applicants for franchisee rights of two BPL Teams since the previous right holder of “Chittagong Vikings” has informed BPL GC about its decision to “Discontinue as a Team” and BCB is also exploring the possibility of adding another new franchise team to the BPL T20 Tournament.
The decision to grant franchisee rights to interested applicants to EOI will depend on, amongst others, outcome of the discussion about renewal of Franchise Agreement and settlement of disputes (if any) with previous right holders to BPL Franchise Teams.
“The relevant processes, player draft or auction etc. for holding the next edition of BPL T20 will be set in motion after the execution of the fresh franchisee contract,” Mahbub Anam said.
“The seventh edition of the BPL will see an open draft auction for listed players including local and overseas on all categories.”
The BPL teams however would not retain the players also from the previous edition. The players’ retention option will come into effect from the BPL T20 8th edition onwards.