IPL 2022 will see the addition of two new franchises and after a full day of bidding and tabulating, the BCCI has announced that Lucknow and Ahmedabad will be the home of the two new teams.
RPSG Ventures Ltd. has bagged the ownership rights of the Lucknow franchise for Rs 7,090 crore while private equity firm Irelia Company Pte Ltd. (CVC Capital Partners) has bought the Ahmedabad team for Rs 5,625 crore.
In the press note announcing the allotment of the teams, BCCI also said IPL 2022 will feature 74 matches where each team will play 7 home and 7 away games.
'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.' BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said after the announcement.
According to reports, 22 parties had picked up the IPL teams' tender document worth Rs 10 lakh but only ten parties had placed their bids.
The base price for the new teams was set at Rs 2,000 crore.
Who Are The New Team Owners?
The RP-Sanjiv Goenka group is not new to the IPL and had owned a team before this by the name of Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016 and 2017. They, along with Gujarat Lions, featured as the two-season replacements for Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, who were suspended due to their involvement in illegal betting by their respective owners. In their first year, the Pune franchise finished seventh in the IPL and were runners-up the next year. MS Dhoni, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith were among the big names to have represented that team.
Private equity firm CVC Capital, who are the latest to join the IPL bandwagon, are quite active in sports. They have had investments in Rugby, international Volleyball, Formula One and also recently landed a deal in football with La Liga. CVC had owned Formula 1 from 2006 to 2017.
In Spain, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Real Oviedo have voted against the deal between La Liga and CVC. Even the Spanish FA were displeased with the deal which La Liga were working on.
CVC was part of a consortium last year that had entered into talks to buy a stake in the media business of Italy's top football league, but the deal fell through after objections from some clubs.
How Will New Teams Pick Players?
Two new IPL teams mean at least 60 more players join the franchise-based tournament from the 2022 season. But, how will Lucknow and Ahmedabad field big stars if all are already playing with their set franchises?
There is set to be a big IPL auction at the end of the year which means all players from the current eight franchises return back to the auction pool. Earlier auction rules have allowed teams to retain three players and an added two with the 'right to match' card at the auction. However, the BCCI is yet to announce the rules this time around.
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