The 2 New Teams Cost Rs 3,235 Cr; Existing 8 Teams Together Cost Rs 2,853 Cr
Rajesh Chandramouli, Dwaipayan Datta & K Shriniwas Rao | TNN
Chennai/Mumbai: Barely two years ago, when Mukesh Ambani's Reliance
Industries Ltd made the highest bid for an Indian Premier League
franchise (Rs 441 crore for Mumbai), many termed it as a massive
gamble on a risky concept. The IPL sure has come a long way in a short
time, with the Sahara group on Sunday bidding Rs 1,702 crore for Pune
and Rendezvous Sports forking out Rs 1,533 crore for Kochi.
These two bids, worth a total of about Rs 3,235 crore, add up to
more than the Rs 2,853 crore collectively paid by the existing eight
franchise owners in the first auction, on January 24, 2008.
Favourites Adani Group and VC Digital (Videocon Group) were pipped
by the Sahara group and a consortium of real estate players and
businessmen brought together by Union minister Shashi Tharoor under
the banner of Rendezvous Sports. The two new teams will become part of
IPL in 2011, which will see 94 games being played as against 60 now.
The franchises will be valid for 10 years.
The bidding behind closed doors lasted less than an hour. The base
price for each team was $225 million, more than four times the rate at
which the original IPL auction began in 2008. IPL commissioner Lalit
Modi said five eligible bids were received in all, which included
Rendezvous Sports, Sahara, Aman Vohra, Adani and VC Digital. There was
a dash of glamour too with Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan dropping in
to represent
some groups. Sahara Group
emerged the top contender with
a $370-million (Rs 1,702 crore)
bid for a clutch of cities which
included Ahmedabad, Nagpur or Pune. Eventually, the Subrata
Roycontrolled group opted for Pune. "It's close to Aamby Valley. We
have our business reasons for choosing Pune,'' Abhijit Sarkar,
corporate communications head at Sahara, told TOI. No recession in
IPL, says Modi TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai/Mumbai: Rendezvous Sports, who opted for Kochi as their base
camp, were the second highest bidders with $333.33 million (Rs 1,533
crore). "It would suffice at this point of time to let you know that
we are a group of investors passionate about cricket. Some are from
Kerala, some from other parts of India and some from abroad. I would
not like to reveal too many details at this point of time," said Vivek
Venugopal, a builder from Kerala and one of the investors in the
state. However, it is learnt that the group also includes Anchor
Switches, Rosy Blue Diamond, Mukesh Patel, and Ravi and Sanjay
Gaikwad.
Anchor Switches is a company from Gujarat and is owned by Mehul
Shah. Rosy Blue Diamond is one of the world's largest diamond
manufacturing companies. Dilip Mehta is the CEO of this company, which
owns jewellery brand 'Orra'.
Ravi and Sanjay Gaikwad are Mumbai-based businessmen. Sanjay
Gaikwad is the CEO of UFO Moviez. Mukesh Patel is an education baron
who runs technology, management and engineering institutions.
The size of the bids surprised one and all, including Modi
himself. "I was expecting something in the range of $320m, but this
does come as a surprise to me. You talk about recession, but all I can
say is that there's no recession in IPL,'' exulted a beaming Modi.
Among the losers, Aman Vohra placed a bid of $261.3 million, Adani
Group bid $315 million for Ahmedabad and VC Digital bid $319.9 million
for Pune.
"Kochi does not have a cricket stadium as yet. The Kerala Cricket
Association is in the process of building a world class cricket
stadium. Till the ground becomes ready, IPL will provide alternative
venues to Rendezvous," Modi added. Pune, on the other hand, has a
stadium under construction 30km from the city.
Sources close to Tharoor were, however, categorical that they
would insist on some of the matches being held in Kochi. "We've a
stadium there. If we have an IPL team, it's for hosting matches in
Kerala," they said.