Genius Sports leads race for football rights with Rs 64.4 crore annual bid

Panaji: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is likely to accept a bid of Rs 64.4 crore annually with five percent increase every year — totalling approx. Rs 2,130 crore across 20 years — for commercial rights of the top-tier Indian Super League (ISL) and Federation Cup, the country’s premier cup competition.
When bids for the two top properties in men’s football was opened on Friday, AIFF had two interested parties. London-based Genius Sports bid $7 million annually (approx. Rs 64.4 crore), while FanCode’s bid was for Rs 36.6 crore, both offering a similar five-year increment.
The bids though were structured differently.
“Genius are putting big money on the table, investing in the league, while FanCode is club-centric, focused on how clubs can get revenues faster,” said a senior club official.
FanCode had secured the rights for the current ISL season for ₹8.6 crore. This season has a truncated league, played in a single-leg format with only 13 games for each team.
Genius Sports reportedly works with English Premier League (EPL), National Football League (NFL, American football) and the NBA among others.
“Genius is offering approximately Rs 2,130 crore over 20 years, while Capri Sports will pay approximately Rs 160 crore for the Indian Women’s League and IWL 2,” AIFF deputy secretary general M Satyanarayan told TOI on Friday. “We will now place the proposals before the executive committee (on Sunday) for a decision. We have informed the clubs too about the bids, and they have been asked to provide their feedback. Everything will be placed before the executive committee.”
When the bids were opened at the AIFF headquarters in Delhi, two club officials — Ravi Puskur (CEO, Goa) and Dhruv Sood (CEO, SC Delhi) — were present. Once the numbers were known, the AIFF had a quick call with all ISL clubs.
“From the over Rs 2,000 crore that Genius Sports will invest, how much of it will go to the clubs? Nothing,” another club official said later in the day, “The clubs will discuss the proposal threadbare (on Saturday) and provide our feedback to the AIFF. It’s clear that there will be no central revenue share for the clubs. We also don’t have any assurance that the participation fee will be waived off (by AIFF).”
GMR Sports, which attended the pre-bid meeting, did not submit a bid. A senior AIFF official told the clubs that the company behind multiple sporting ventures, including Delhi Capitals, “wanted a 90-day extension of the bid last date, which was not possible.”
The bids have been submitted for a 15-year term with a provision for an additional five-year extension, with the bidder having the right of first refusal. The proposal also includes a five per cent increase in value every year over the duration of the agreement.
As per the bid document, the bid winner will have to provide a fee “not less than 20% for administrative costs to the AIFF. The fee is “non-refundable and not contingent on any revenue accrual in favour of the bidder.”