The Sporty Solutionz agency, commercial rights-holder and promoter of the Indian Badminton League, has threatened legal action against the Badminton Association of India’s move to terminate its contract.
The IBL represented the latest attempt to transplant the successful business model of cricket’s Indian Premier League to another sport when it staged its inaugural edition in August 2013. However, the franchise-based league is yet to schedule a second season.
The IndianTelevision.com website said Sporty Solutionz holds a 10-year contract with the BAI and Maharashtra Badminton Association, adding that the agency’s legal counsels are studying the case and will respond with “appropriate legal action” against the two organisations.
Sporty Solutionz claims the BAI’s demand for a bank guarantee of Rs 50 crore (€7.36m/$7.92m) runs against the initial IBL agreement signed between the three parties. The agency maintains that there have been no defaults on its part.
A Sporty Solutionz spokesman told IndianTelevision.com: “In spite of that, post discussion a sum of Rs 15 crore was agreed as the bank guarantee. This was captured in Sporty Solutionz’s last communication to the BAI on 10 March, 2015. We are awaiting a response from BAI on this.
“On three occasions BAI agreed on a window for IBL season two and back-tracked on its words. On each occasion, Sporty Solutionz had set the ball rolling, engaged international players, incurred expenses on operations and bookings.”
Referring to possible legal action, the spokesman added: “However, in the best interest of IBL, players and sports lovers, we are open to dialogue for an amicable resolution of the issue.”