There appears to be considerable interest to pick up the Invitation to Tender (ITT) floated to determine two new IPL franchises that will replace Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), both of which have been suspended for season 9 (2016) and 10 (2017), because their owners were found guilty of betting during 2013 IPL.
The ITT has been made available at the BCCI office here from November 16 to 30 at a non-refundable and non-adjustable cost of Rs. 2 lakh.
The BCCI eliminated Kochi and Jaipur as city-venues for different reasons and has offered Pune, Rajkot, Indore, Chennai, Dharamshala, Ranchi, Visakhapatnam, Nagpur and Cuttack as the cities to bid for.
Chennai franchisePeople are watching with interest as to who would bid for Chennai; there is widespread speculation that MAMR Muthiah, Managing Director, Chettinad Group, has picked up the ITT. There is still time, nine days to consider, for the likes of MAMR Muthiah and others, the need to own an IPL team only for two years.
Rough estimates suggest an outgo of Rs. 75 crore each for the next two seasons; the players’ fee alone could be close to Rs. 60 crore.
There is a feeling among IPL business model watchers that just like Vivo Mobiles India which agreed to get the title sponsorship transferred to it by Pepsi for just two years, stock market listed companies may be keen to get into the IPL bandwagon as team owners for two years. Vivo will be paying the BCCI a little over Rs. 180 crore for two years.
Five years ago, Venugopal Dhoot, founder, Videocon Group and some bollywood actors turned up at star hotel in Mumbai to know the outcome of an ITT floated for two additional teams. The BCCI president then, Shashank Manohar, cancelled the ITT, suspecting that the bids were rigged and stating that the conditions were too stiff to make it a level-playing field.
As a result the IPL governing council reduced the $100 million performance deposit to $10 million and modified the 100 per cent bank guarantee (from successful bidders) to a 10 per cent rolling back guarantee.
But to ascertain the two new franchises for 2016 and 2017, a reverse bidding process will be followed, with the base price at Rs. 40 crore.
