Sri Lanka Cricket releases tender for England tour of Sri Lanka

Tuesday, 27 October 2020 00:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has released a tender to procure media and related rights partner for the tentatively scheduled England tour of Sri Lanka.

England were in Sri Lanka to play a two-match Test series this March when it was called off due to the threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the series has now been rescheduled for January 2021. The said series is not part of the FTP signed with Sony. As SLC is not happy with Sony’s offer for the tour it has decided to tender the series.

According to the tender released by SLC, the board has called for Expression of Interests for the international television, radio, digital, gaming and betting rights of the England tour of Sri Lanka. The potential parties are asked to submit their EOI before 2 November.

The series is still not 100% confirmed and recently ECB spokesperson was quoted as saying they will have to see how the Sri Lanka’s Quarantine norms pans out, post that only the call on the series will be taken. Recently Bangladesh Cricket Board also cancelled the tour to Sri Lanka for the same reason.

As per SLC, England test team will tour Sri Lanka in January to play two match test series. ECB is yet to officially confirm the series but SLC has declared that right before the England tour of India, English team will be in Colombo to play two match test series.

According to reports, Sony initially had valued the two test match series at $ 700 K but SLC feels they should get value of $ 1 m for each game (i.e. $ 2 m for two games). The difference in expectations has led to SLC now deciding to distribute the series on its own.

SLC has already signed up with SPN for the Sri Lanka cricket media rights for the next three-year cycle. SLC again was not satisfied with $ 22.3 m offer by Sony for the three-year cycle but as they did not had any other alternative, they had accepted the offer.

(Source: https://www.insidesport.co/cricket-business-sri-lanka-cricket-releases-tender-for-england-tour-of-sri-lanka/)