Top sports and broadcast consulting agencies like ITW and Group M are among half a dozen parties that have purchased the Invitation To Tender (ITT) documents for the new Indian Premier League (IPL) teams, now set to be auctioned on a revised date of October 25.
Cricbuzz learns that there are three venture capitalists among the 10-11 parties that have purchased the ITT. As previously reported by Cricbuzz, Sanjiv Goenka of the RPSG Group is one among the big capitalists to have shown interest but there's little clarity if Ahmedabad-based Adani Group, considered a favourite to buy the Ahmedabad team, has also come onboard. They, though, could have been represented in the ITT purchase by one of the agencies. There's also speculation that Torrent Pharmaceuticals, another Ahmedabad-based investor, and Hyderabad's Aurobindo Pharma are those among interested.
The BCCI recently extended the deadline, making the ITT document available for purchase till October 10. The deadline for it previously was October 5. Subsequently, the other important dates in the process of sale have also been extended. The board would answer the queries till September 29 and the auction for the teams, which was to be held on October 17, will now take place in Dubai on October 25.
Pursuant to requests from various interested parties, BCCI has now decided to further extend the date for purchasing the ITT document till October 20, 2021. The ITT will be available to interested parties on receipt of payment of the non-refundable tender fee of INR 10,00,000 (Rupees Ten Lac Only) plus any applicable Goods and Services Tax. All other terms contained in the Invitation document shall be applicable.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is contemplating allowing the two new IPL teams to buy a few players outside of the auction. The move, ostensibly, is aimed at ensuring a level-playing field for the new comers as the existing eight IPL franchises are certain to be granted the option of retentions.
Sources within the BCCI and the franchises have indicated that the two teams will be able to pick a few players among those who have enrolled themselves into the auction. The exact mechanism for picking the players is being worked out but unmistakably, the players taken will be the big names and their fee will be decided mutually by the franchise and the player.
The no. of 'special picks' has not been decided and the final number will be decided basing the number of retentions allowed for the eight existing teams