Pune, Rajkot are the new IPL franchises

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 8

Ending the speculation over who would replace suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the ninth edition of the IPL, the Kolkata-based Sanjiv Goenka-owned New Rising consortium and Intex, a mobile phone manufacturer, won the ownership rights for the two new franchises here today.

Coming in after CSK and RR were handed a two-year ban by the Justice Lodha panel in connection with the 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal, the BCCI president Shashank Manohar unveiled the two new teams here today. New Rising group bought the Pune franchise, while Delhi-based Intex picked Rajkot, beating competition from the three other bidders.

Goenka is the chairman of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka group and a part-owner of the Kolkata Games and Sports Private Limited, which co-owns the Indian Super League (ISL) football franchise Atletico de Kolkata with former India cricketer Sourav Ganguly. Incidentally, Ganguly is the member of the IPL Governing Council (GC), which shortlisted the prospective bidders before announcing the two new teams.

Goenka will pay Rs 16 crore per year to the BCCI while Intex Mobiles will pay Rs 10 crore for the two-year deal. Harsh Goenka-owned RPG Properties, Chennai-based cement major Chettinad Group and Axis Chemicals were the other three bidders.

Windfall for the BCCI

Under the reverse bidding that was employed to determine the winner, the five buyers had to submit a bid lower than the base price of Rs 40 crore. According to Manohar, the BCCI stands to earn more than Rs 300 crore after the two franchises made their bids.

“The BCCI pays each franchise approximate 70 crore first year, and 75 crore the next year. So that makes it 145 crore for one team. Now that Rs 145 crore is going to be safe because they are not accepting revenue from the central pool. Plus, they are paying us 25 crore annually, so 50 crore across two years. That is the simple calculation," Manohar explained.

The two franchises will get their first chance to pick players from the two suspended teams on December 15, when they take part in the players’ draft. Both the franchises will pick five players each from a pool of CSK and RR players, comprising a total of 50 India and international cricketers. New Rising will bid for the first player, followed by Intex. The ten players picked here can’t be traded during the trading window which will close on December 31.

The maximum money available with the franchise during the draft will be Rs 39 crore. They can spend the remaining 27 crore out of the total purse of Rs 66 crore at the players’ auction, which will take place in Bengaluru on February 6.

“The remaining 40 players, along with other cricketers released by six other franchises, will go to the players’ auction. However, both CSK and RR will be allowed back in the league after serving out their suspension. The contract for these new teams is specifically for two years,” said IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, who also informed that the IPL 9 will be held from April 9 to May 29.

On the issue of the proposed India-Pakistan series, Manohar said that the call has to be taken by the government. He also added that it was for Pakistan to decide on the venues, ticketing and broadcasters for the series.

Key points

• The two new franchises, which came in for suspended CSK and RR, will be based in Pune and Rajkot. 
• The Pune franchise has been bought by Kolkata-based businessman Sanjiv Goenka’s company New Rising Group. 
• Intex Mobiles won the bid for the Rajkot franchise. 
• Goenka will pay Rs 16 crore per year for two years to the BCCI. 
• Intex Mobiles will shell out Rs 10 crore for the same period. 
• The interim franchisees can opt to retain the cricketers of CSK and RR through a draft system. 
• The cricketers will be divided into two groups of capped and uncapped players; the top names will be sold through the draft system. 
• The two new teams will have a minimum of Rs 40 crore and a maximum of Rs 66 crore to buy players. 
• The draft pick will be held on Dec 15. Pune will pick the players first. The IPL auction for the rest of the players will take place on Feb 6 in Bengaluru.