Pro Volleyball Leagues announces Franchise Owners Bid documents for Season 1

The Nets are up for the Pro Volleyball League

VFI and Baseline floats bid tenders for Pro Volleyball

Franchise EOI documents to be available from 15 May 2018

All bid documents to be duly submitted by 30 June 2018 

Winning bids for Franchisees to be announced on 10 July 2018

by Shrutee K/DNS

The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) and Baseline Ventures today announced the commencement of the bid process for the Pro Volleyball League, scheduled in the second half of 2018. The bid documents for prospective franchise owners of the league will be available from 15 May, 2018. 

The bid documents will be available at Baseline Ventures offices in Gurgaon (Delhi NCR), Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) at a deposit of INR 50,000/- (non-refundable fee). Interested bidders who are unable to collect the bid documents in person can request for the same by courier by writing to provolleyball@baselineventure.com

Announcing the availability of the bid documents, Joy Bhattacharjya, CEO, Pro Volleyball League said, “In the first season, we are looking at six partners who share our vision of taking Indian volleyball to the next level as franchise owners. We want strong partners who will build this product with us as we go along. A bidder will be able to bid for two cities of its choice and the final winning bids for the six teams will be chosen as per the eligibility parameters mentioned in the bid document which includes their interest in the development of the sport in India.”

The Pro Volleyball League which will commence post the Asian Games 2018, will be played across two cities in the country, one in North India and one in South India. The league’s blue print is defined thoroughly, with the aid of the Volleyball Federation of India. The current league structure will consist of 18 matches, which will be played across two indoor venues. The teams will consist of men from the national teams across all FIVB (the international governing body of the sport) member nations, with a predominant Indian Player pool. Player auctions are scheduled for July and franchise-owners can bid for the Indian players from a bank of over 90 players, while the foreign players will be recruited via player draft. 

Explaining the process, Tuhin Mishra, Managing Director, Baseline Ventures said,“We have kept the process very simple. Our focus for the first season will be packaging the product properly while also not imposing strong financial pressure on the potential franchise owners. Apart from the financial commitment made in the initial bid, plus an expense on player salaries that we have capped at Rs. 75 Lakhs per team, the team owners will see very minimal cost implications. The league will undertake all other costs, including team travel & logistics and other associated costs”. 

The bid document encourages potential owners to submit their intent of ownership with a minimum bid of INR 3 Crores and a preference of top two cities as home franchise from an available 14 cities. On the onset of the new league, Secretary General of VFI, Ramavtar Singh Jakhar, said, “Season 1 of Pro Volleyball is just the beginning of bigger and better things to come for Volleyball in the country, we have put together a vision for the sport in the country which will make the nation a contender for a medal at the Olympics by 2024.”