After a long wait two new IPL teams for the 2022 season have been introduce. RP-Sanjiv Goenka group gets Lucknow IPL team for Rs 7090 crore and Irelia Company Pte Ltd gets Ahmedabad IPL for Rs 5166 crore.
The bidding process for the two new Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises began on Monday in Dubai with ten parties submitting their bids to own a team at one of the six cities — Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Cuttack, Dharamsala, Guwahati and Indore.
Among the high-profile bidders were the owners of Premier League club Manchester United, the Adani Group, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Hindustan Media Ventures Pvt Ltd, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, Capri Global and one Singapore based Irelia Company Pte Limited.
The 2022 edition will not be the first time the IPL will comprise 10 teams – that already happened a decade ago. It has been confirmed that the tournament format will follow the 2011 model, which scrapped the simple home-and-away format, and included a total of 74 matches (instead of the current number of 60).
Rhiti Sports Management the agency that once represented the former India captain MS Dhoni, had also bid for one of the two new IPL teams.
The BCCI had extended its ‘Invitation to Tender’ twice and had extended the deadline till October 20th, so that Manchester United can take part in the bidding process.
Initially, 22 companies picked up the tender document worth Rs 10 lakh but only ten parties placed their bids.
The base price for the new teams was Rs 2000 crore.