BCCI plans tender for new IPL team after Diwali

After the completion of the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already pulled up its socks for the 2021 edition with not much time left. Earlier it’s learned that the board is contemplating adding a ninth team and therefore, it is planning to bring out a tender for the new franchise after the Diwali festival gets done and dusted with.

Previously, it was reported that two new teams would be added for the upcoming tournament. But the BCCI is thinking about restricting to one team itself for 2021 and thereafter bring in the other team from the 2022 season onwards. A solution is possible within the next 72 hours or so after the IPL governing council and BCCI’s office-bearers meet.

If reports are to be believed, the RPG-Sanjiv Goenka Group, the Tatas and the Adani Group have shown keenness to own a new IPL franchise. Also, along with media stalwart Ronnie Screwvala, banker Uday Kotak has shown quite a bit of interest as well.

“The tender is most likely to come after Diwali, once a decision is taken in this regard. And regardless of whether it’s one franchise or two, if new teams come in then a mega auction cannot be avoided,” sources were quoted as saying in The Times of India (TOI).

However, as per the ones, privy to the development, the existing eight franchise and the other stakeholders involved have put forth some issues.

Here are the concerns surrounding the new IPL team:

a) The central revenue pool is unlikely to undergo a change until the 2023 edition and hence, a new side coming in will result in the dilution of the present revenue cycle.

b) With the 2021 edition of the tournament likely to begin between last week of March and the first week of April, there’s not adequate time (just three-and-half months) to conduct a mega auction.

c) If one new team is brought in, it will result in 60 matches going up to 76, in the current format. If two new franchises are incluced, the number of matches will go up to 90 and a major concern is that the IPL window is too short to adjust these games.