MUMBAI: Sporty Solutionz, which is the commercial rights holders and promoter of Indian Badminton League (IBL), has called the Badminton Association of India’s (BAI) move to terminate its IBL contract as unlawful, unwarranted and against the very basics of the IBL agreement.
Sporty Solutionz legal counsels are studying the case and will respond with an appropriate legal action against the Badminton Association of India and the Maharashtra Badminton Association.
The Badminton Association of India and the Maharashtra Badminton Association signed the IBL agreement with Sporty Solutionz for a period of 10 years.
A spokesperson from Sporty Solutionz said, “However, in the best interest of IBL, players and sports lovers, we are open to dialogue for an amicable resolution of the issue.”
Sporty Solutionz is also open for a debate on any platform. The company categorically said that the Badminton Association of India’s demand for a bank guarantee of Rs 50 crore in itself was against the IBL agreement, which was signed between the three parties. Sporty Solutionz maintains that there have been no defaults on its part.
“In spite of that, post discussion a sum of Rs 15 crore was agreed as the bank guarantee. This was captured in Sporty Solutionz’ last communication to the BAI on 10 March, 2015. We are awaiting a response from BAI on this,” added the spokesperson.
“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,” he further informed.
The onus of payment to the players, like in all leagues, rests with the franchisees as they enter into “employment” agreements with the players. However, in any inadequacies from franchisee and partners, Sporty Solutionz has come forward and resolved the situation. “We are in receipt of acknowledgements from these players that all their accounts are duly settled,” said the spokesperson.
Furthermore, Sporty Solutionz has also apologized to the players, fans and all stakeholders. The company reiterates its commitment that the most successful badminton league worldwide will be in action soon.
“We have full faith in the law of the land and we are optimistic that under our legitimate rights, we shall soon be sharing a lot of positives about the league,” concluded the spokesperson.
