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 the other two parties that have also shown interest in the proposed 15+5-year commercial rights cycle.It is learnt that Capri Sports’ interest is in the women’s tournaments under the packages offered by the AIFF.
AIFF are hoping to sell the commercial rights for the competitions for a minimum of 15 years. If the bidders agree, it can be extended to 20 years.The commercial rights, part of AIFF’s Vision 2047, include two packages: Package A (Indian Super League and Federation Cup) and Package B (Indian Women’s League, Indian Women’s League 2 and possibly the Women’s Federation Cup).GMR Sports are involved with multiple sporting properties: Delhi Capitals (IPL franchise), Dubai Capitals (ILT20 franchise), India Capitals (Legends League Cricket franchise), UP Yoddhas (Pro Kabaddi League franchise), Telugu Yoddhas (Kho Kho franchise), Seattle Orcas (Major League Cricket franchise), Southern Brave (The Hundred franchise), Hampshire Cricket, the Utilita Bowl stadium and the Rugby Premier League.After releasing the Request for Proposal (RFP) on March 2, interested parties were required to pay Rs 2.5 lakh for the tender document. The interested parties then attended the pre-bid conference on March 11.The last date for bid submissions is March 19 and the bids (technical and commercial) will be opened on March 20.AIFF’s previous attempt to sell the commercial rights found no takers in November. However, that came against the backdrop of uncertainty related to the ISL, which eventually started after a five-month delay on February 14.
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The 2025-26 ISL season is currently being played in a truncated format and needed intervention from the Sports Minister to get the ball rolling. All 14 teams agreed to play the season, which will witness 91 matches on a home-and-away basis.Earlier, global broadcast rights for the ISL were sold to FanCode for Rs 8.62 crore, which further sub-licensed them to the Sony Sports Network. Meanwhile, Kaleidoscope Production and Services (KPS Studios) was awarded the production rights, both global and domestic.
