Bangalore, March 21: Sahara India and Rendezvous World Sport Limited have won the bids for the two new franchises in IPL. While Sahara won the Pune franchise, Rendezvous World Sport Limited won the Cochin franchise.
In a startling fact that showed just how big the IPL has become and how much financial clout it commands, the bids for the two new franchisees were more (in terms of INR) than the bid amounts of the existing eight franchises combined.
Sahara had in fact topped the bids for Napgur, Pune and Ahmedabad and was asked to settle for one city.
The bid amounts for the two new cities were a staggering Rs. 1702 Crores (USD 370 million) by Sahara for Pune and Rs. 1533 Crores (USD 333 million) by Rendezvous World Sport Limited for Kochi.
Videocon, which was backed by Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, failed to win the bid.
Unveiling the winners at the ITC Park Sheraton in Chennai , Lalit Modi said, “The bidding was extremely competitive and I hope they [the bidders] make good business.” He also said that the franchise fee for the two new teams was for 10 years.
Modi also said that there would be no more expansion of the IPL in the near future and the league would stay at 10 franchises, and he further said that there were no plans to host a second leg of the IPL outside India this year.
——-Agencies