The bidding for new IPL teams took place at the Taj Hotel in Dubai on Monday and it is the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group (Lucknow) and CVC Capital Partners (Ahmedabad) who will join the Indian Premier League as the new owners. The IPL’s first season was played in 2008, and ever since, the league has grown in stature and it is one of the most viewed competitions in the world.
Ahmedabad and Lucknow are the two new members of the Indian Premier League (IPL) family as it will now be a ten-team affair from the next season.
The bidding took place at the Taj Hotel in Dubai on Monday (October 25) and it is the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group (RPSG) (Lucknow) and CVC Capital Partners (Ahmedabad) who will join the cash-rich league as the new owners.
- Sanjiv Goenka-owned RPSG Group has picked Lucknow as their home base with a winning bid of INR 7090 crores.
- CVC Capital has opted for Ahmedabad with a bid of INR 5625 crores.
The new franchises will participate in IPL from 2022 season onwards subject to the bidders completing the post-bid formalities as specified in the ITT document. The IPL 2022 season will comprise ten teams and will have 74 matches, wherein each team will play 7 home and 7 away matches.
BCCI President, Mr Sourav Ganguly said: The BCCI is happy to welcome two new teams from the next season of the Indian Premier League. I would like to congratulate RPSG Ventures Ltd. & Irelia Company Pte Ltd for being the successful bidders. The IPL will now go to two new cities in India viz in Lucknow and Ahmedabad. It is heartening to see the inclusion of two new teams at such a high valuation, and it reiterates the cricketing and financial strength of our cricket ecosystem. True to IPL’s motto of ‘Where Talent Meets Opportunity’, the inclusion of two new teams will bring more domestic cricketers from our country to the global stage. The ITT process included two interested bidders from outside of India, which strongly emphasises the global appeal of the IPL as a sports property. The IPL is proving to be a wonderful instrument in globalising the game of cricket. I am keenly looking forward to IPL 2022.
The IPL’s first season was played in 2008, and ever since, the league has grown in stature and it is one of the most viewed competitions in the world.
Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals, SunRisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings, and Rajasthan Royals have been with the league since its inception. The Hyderabad franchise was earlier named Deccan Chargers but it came to be known as SunRisers Hyderabad after a change in ownership.
There have been fourteen seasons of the IPL tournament. The fifteenth season promises to be like no other and viewership is all set to increase.
In 2010, two new franchises – Pune Warriors India and Kochi Tuskers Kerala – joined the league before the fourth season in 2011 and for a brief period, the league was played by ten teams.
One year later in November 2011, it was announced that Kochi Tuskers Kerala side would be terminated following it “breaching” the BCCI’s terms of conditions. Pune Warriors India had withdrawn from the IPL in 2013 over financial differences with the board.
But it is all set to be a 10-team affair again come 2022. Also, the mega auction for the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League will be held later this year in December.
