BCCI, UAE: On 25th October 2021, BCCI has announced two new teams for IPL 2022 ahead of the mega auction. Ahmedabad and Lucknow will host the respective franchise with combined bids running over 1.6 billion.
A total of 22 companies had purchased the tender to which only 9 companies came to the walk-in bid held in Dubai which lasted for almost 6 hours. The formal processes were then started on the envelope sealed with the bid for technical evaluation.
Under the watch of the IPL governing council and the presence of BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly, and secretary, Jay Shah, with treasurer Arun Dhumal, vice-president and Joint-secretary Rajiv Shukla and Jayesh George were present.
A 10-years time is what the new franchise will get to pay their entire amount. BCCI has ensured a solid foundation for the franchise with some rules for the bidders. A bidder needed to have a turnover of at least INR 3000 crore per year for a minimum of the last three years. Measured in terms of net asset value this number was pegged at INR 2500 crore per year over the last three years.
The highest bid was given by RPGS Group Ltd, for both Ahmedabad and Lucknow and eventually allotted Lucknow with 7090 crores. This is the second time RPSG has entered the IPL economic atmosphere who ran Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016 and 2017 following CSK and RR’s two-year ban because of the 2013 corruption scandal.
Along with Lucknow, RPSG also put in bids for Ahmedabad and Indore. While it put the same price (INR 7090 crore) for Lucknow and Ahmedabad, it bid INR 4790 crore for Indore.
“It is good to be back in the IPL and I am delighted,” RPSG owner Sanjiv Goenka told ESPNcricinfo minutes after bagging the Lucknow franchise. “It is an initial step. We now have to build a good team and perform.”
Meanwhile, the CVC is one of the first private equity firms to invest in IPL. They have earlier the experience of running a Formula 1 team for about a decade before selling it to Livery Media. Their recent investment in La Liga and also having experience in rugby leagues globally prove their keen interest in IPL.
CVC picked Ahmedabad and Lucknow and its bid for Ahmedabad was INR 5166 crore. Significantly, the minimum bid price raised by all nine bidders was over INR 4000 crore.
Though they have invested in leagues it will be the first time they will own a team instead. They tried to grab the Delhi franchise once in 2018 however, Jindal South West (JSW) got the stake.
The Adani Group was the third-highest bidder among the final nine, listing the same bid price – INR 5100 crore – for both Ahmedabad and Lucknow.
CVC’s Ahmedabad home will be the world’s largest cricket stadium, the Narendra Modi Stadium, which has an advertised capacity of 132,000 people. Lucknow’s home games will be at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
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