BCCI issues tender for two new IPL teams to be added in 2022 edition

The detailed terms and conditions governing the submission and evaluation of bids including eligibility requirements, process for submissions of bids, proposed new teams’ rights, and obligations, etc. are contained in the ‘Invitation to Tender’ (“ITT”) which will be made available on receipt of payment of a non-refundable fee of ₹10 lakh with taxes. The ITT will be available for purchase till 5 October, 2021, BCCI said in a statement.

“Any interested party wishing to submit a bid is required to purchase the ITT. However, only those satisfying the eligibility criteria set out in the ITT and subject to the other terms and conditions set out therein, shall be eligible to bid. It is clarified that merely purchasing this ITT does not entitle any person to bid,” said Jay Shah, secretary, BCCI.

A person familiar with the development said the tender to bid for new franchise can be bought by companies with valuation of ₹3,000 crore. Besides, the base price for bidding could be close to ₹1,700 crore (the upper price at which BCCI last sold a franchise — to Sahara in 2010). It will be a closed bid, said the person, declining to be named.

The potential bidder can write to the BCCI requesting clarifications in the tender document – one that will be addressed over the next month. BCCI will list the number of cities available in the present settings for potential bidders to select from. Finally, the winning bids, upon submission, will be announced around the time when the IPL 2021 edition’s knockouts are in progress.

The two new teams could possibly be from any of these cities — Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Pune. The first two cities are believed to be the top contenders as both seem to be more suitable owing to the bigger capacity venues, that is, the Narendra Modi Stadium ( with a capacity of 1,10,000) and Ekana Cricket Stadium (50,000) respectively. BCCI has not disclosed the formal list of cities yet.

It is speculated that corporate houses such as Adani Group  (based in Ahmedabad) and RPG Sanjeev Goenka Group may be interested in picking up the bid document.

Currently, the eight IPL teams play each other twice and then the top four go into playoffs for the final.

“To me, ₹2, 000 seems like a realistic base figure for the new team franchises since the league has grown and teams are making good annual revenue which could go upto ₹70 crore. I believe multiple corporates are interested to ride the IPL wave and I won’t be surprised if the bid can go as high as ₹4, 000 – ₹5, 000 crore. BCCI is also set to renew the media rights contract so there’s a significant money to be made out of IPL,” a senior sports executive said on the condition

The official broadcaster of the T20 league, Star India, has paid ₹16,347.50 crore for 2018-2022 but this was for 60 matches per year. Once two new teams are added and the number of matches is expected to go up to 94, the broadcast rights are expected to be re-negotiated. Experts also said that the new teams will grow the overall IPL ecosystem with more players, support staff along with support to local economy through hospitality and travel related opportunities opening up.

“Eight team IPL is not doing justice to the league of that stature. All big global leagues tend to have over 10 teams. It is inevitable that it had to grow. The only problem with longer IPL is that there will be a limited window in terms of player availability and managing cricket calendar otherwise it is the way forward,” the sports executive added.

Interestingly, IPL had hosted a 10-team tournament in 2011, adding Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers. Pune Warriors played until 2013, while Kochi Tuskers was not included after the 2011 season.