BCCI invites bids for two new IPL teams to make it 10-franchise affair from next year  

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) formally opened the door for the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be expanded to a 10-team affair from the 2022 edition by inviting bids for two new franchises.

The invitation to tender (ITT) will be available till October 5 and it is understood that the new owners will be announced once the current season ends on October 15.

The statement issued by the BCCI didn’t reveal any details with regards to the minimum purchase bid for a franchise. However, having sold the Pune franchise to Sahara in 2010 for Rs 1,700 crore, market analysts believe the minimum bid will at least match the sum if not more. Similarly, the BCCI hasn’t revealed whether the bids will be submitted via sealed envelopes or by e-auction.

Market analysts expect the base price to be at least around Rs 2,000 crore, which is around 15 per cent more than Pune’s winning bid.

It is not a significant rise given that 11 years have passed and the fact that the tournament has placed itself on the global stage as the most-watched event.

Among the cities that are expected to be available for bidding include Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Pune, Guwahati, Dehradun and Kochi.

With Ahmedabad positioning itself as among the venues that can’t be ignored given that the city has the biggest cricket stadium in the world, it is expected to witness heavy bidding alongside Pune and Lucknow.

Interested bidders are allowed to pick up more than one ITT and can submit bids for two cities.

With competition expected to be severe for those three cities, the others could also come into equation should an interested bidder be smart and alert to developments.

Tuesday’s development sets in motion a process that the BCCI had been planning for more than a couple of years.

In fact, it had earlier wanted to make the tournament a 10-team event from 2021 itself but had to put its plans on hold after the onset of the pandemic.

Although the business market is just picking up after the pandemic, the BCCI is hopeful that it can make more than Rs 4,500 crore, which will further strengthen its position when the IPL broadcast deal comes up for renewal in 2023. 

The 10-team tournament means the IPL Governing Council is looking at a minimum of 74 matches like it was the case in 2011.

In the only 10-team edition so far,  the teams were divided into two groups of five each. Teams from the same group played each other on a home and away basis.

With regards to teams from the other group, they faced four teams once (two home & two away) and one team home and away. 

Purchase bid of IPL franchises (in million)

2010
$370.0 PWI (in 2010)
$333.2 KTK (in 2010)

2008
$111.9 MI
$111.6 RCB
$107.0 DC*
$91.0 CSK
$84.0 DD 
$76.0 KXIP
$75.1 KKR
$67.0 RR

In 2013, 
SRH bought Deccan Chargers for $85.1