The BCCI has inducted two new teams to the Indian Premier League (IPL). Lucknow and Ahmedabad are the two new cities that will join the rest of the eight IPL teams from next season. While RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group bought the Lucknow franchise, private equity player CVC Capitals has acquired ownership of the Ahmedabad franchise.
The bidding witnessed an insane war between the companies. In the end, it was RPSG that had bid the highest amount in the history of the IPL to buy a new team. RPSG’s bidding amount of Rs. 7090 crore is the highest bid ever placed for an IPL team. CVC Capitals has placed the second-highest bid worth Rs. 5166 crore and became another proud owner of an IPL franchise.
There were many expectations on big companies like the Adani Group, The Glazer Family (owners of the Manchester United) and Aurobindo Pharma. But none of these companies’ bids crossed Rs. 5000 crore. The company which places the highest bid gets an option to choose their franchise city. RPSG chose Lucknow and then, the CVC Capitals chose Ahmedabad as their home franchises.
RPSG had earlier owned Rising Pune Super Giants, which was a part of the IPL in the 2016 and 2017 seasons when Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended.
A mega auction will take place for the 10 teams of the IPL in January of February next year. All these 10 teams will play a total of 74 league matches.