BCCI invites bids for 2 new IPL teams; Cuttack among 6 cities listed

Cuttack: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has given its approval to add two more Indian Premier League (IPL) teams in the next edition of the tournament in 2022.

To invite bids, the BCCI has put up six cities — Guwahati, Ranchi, Cuttack (all East), Ahmedabad (West), Lucknow (Central Zone) and Dharamsala (North) — for sale.

According to reports, the base price of these new teams have been set at a whopping Rs 2,000 crore, a steep rise from the Rs 850 crore that SunRisers Hyderabad paid in 2012.

“The Governing Council of the IPL invites bids to acquire the right to own and operate new teams proposed to be introduced to take part from IPL 2022 season,” a BCCI statement said.

“We are expecting bids above R3000 crore for each team,” a BCCI official said. “IPL is ripe for expansion. We have carefully built the brand over the years. Just the way the existing franchises have moved to profit making, so will the new teams. IPL is a property to stay invested in.”

With the addition of two new teams, the next season of the IPL will witness 74 matches instead of the usual 60. More matches also equate to more sponsorship rights that could see an additional financial windfall of more than Rs 800 crore.

As per reports, the BCCI wants to expand the cash-rich tournament to other parts of India’s cricketing map. The absence of any south based city in the list is down to the region already having three teams in Royal Challengers Bangalore, Chennai Super Kings and SunRisers Hyderabad.

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