IPL will be a ten-team affair from next season onwards. Earlier, BCCI had shortlisted six cities around which the tournament’s two new franchises could have been named. Lucknow and Ahmedabad are clear favorites to bag the honors as of now. The base price for buying the franchises is 2000 crores each, and highest bidders will be owning one franchise each. Some major names which are reported to be a part of the bidding race are listed below.
1. Sanjeev Kumar – RPSG
RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group is a conglomerate with annual revenue of 4 Billion Dollars. In the past, they have owned Rising Pune SuperGiants. Notably, the team name abbreviated the same as their company name: RPSG.
2. The Glazer Family
For those who don’t know, Glazer Family runs the world’s most well-known football club in Manchester United. They have shown interest in BCCI’s Invitational To Tender. If they actually end up having one of the franchises, it will sky-rocket IPL’s brand value across the globe.
3. Kotak Group
Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited is an Indian banking and finance company. They are already the official partners of every IPL team except CSK. It isn’t known if they’re bidding for Lucknow or Ahmedabad.
4. Torrent Pharma
This Ahmedabad-based multinational pharmaceutical company comes under Torrent Group. The bidding process requires the bidders to have minimum of 3000 crores in annual turnover; a figure which Torrent Pharma exceeds by more than 5000 crores.
5. Ronnie Screwvala
Ronnie Screwvala is the founder of UTV Software Communications, which is a well-known media and entertainment company. He’s also the co-founder and CEO of up-Grad.
6. Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh
According to the Outlook report, the fashionable couple of Bollywood set to bid for a new IPL team. The combined net worth of the power couple is estimated to be over 400 crore rupees. They may eye to co-own shares of the franchise with some other firm.
7. Aurobindo Pharma
Owned by Ramprakash Reddy, Aurobindo Pharma is one of the giants of the Indian pharmaceuticals industry. With total assets worth INR 28,926 crores, they’re also interested in buying one of the two new IPL franchises.
8. Adani Group
Adani Group is a renowned multinational company based in India. Headquartered in Ahmedabad, they’re bidding for a new IPL franchise. And yes, it’s the one based in Ahmedabad.
9. Naveen Jindal – Jindal Power & Steel
Cuttack is one of the six cities originally shortlisted for new franchise representation. Naveen Jindal has shown immense interest in owning the Cuttack-based franchise. If it is finalized for IPL 2022, that is.
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10. CVC Partners
CVC Capital Partners is one of the world’s largest equity and investment advisory firms. Based in Luxembourg, they have an asset-worth of a whopping 75 billion dollars.
11. Hindustan Times Media
HTM is a renowned mass media company. It has its base in Delhi, India. HTM is also a part of the bidding race. Surely, it is interesting to see.
12. ITW
For starters, ITW stands for Illions Tool Works. It is a Fortune 200 company from America. If Cricbuzz is to be believed, the organization is very keen on participating in the world’s greatest cricket league: IPL.