Dubai: As the IPL family is set to get bigger from next year, some of the existing franchise owners welcomed the addition of Pune and Kochi as the new cities with teams of their own.
The suspense over the names of cities was lifted in Chennai yesterday when the IPL announced the names of the highest bidders after opening of the tenders.
Speaking to Gulf News over phone, Venkat Reddy, managing director of reigning champions Deccan Chargers, said: "We welcome the new franchises as it is good for the numbers."
Asked if the addition of two new partners in the IPL pie will make a dent in the revenue share of the teams, Reddy said: "There are no worries on that front. On the contrary, since the number of matches are increasing almost by 50 per cent, it will have a ripple effect on gate sales, TV revenue etc."
The astronomical figures quoted by the winners of the two bids: Sahara Adventure Sports (Pune) and Rendezvous Sports World (Kochi) showed that words like recession or economic downturn do not hold when it comes to IPL. While Sahara topped the bids with $370 million (Dh1.35 billion), Rendezvous came second with $333 million, with both the bids fetching in excess of the total amount that all the eight franchises were initially sold for in 2008. There were other major corporate houses like Videocon and the Adani Group among the five bidders, with the base price pegged at $225 million.
The franchise auction process was to have been completed on March 7 but was postponed by two weeks after the bidders and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) objected to certain stiff financial clauses.
Speaking to the media, a buoyant Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, said: "We are absolutely delighted by the overwhelming response to our global Franchise Invitation to Tender process. As you can see, the bidding for the two new official franchises has been fair and transparent and is indicative of the revenue-earning potential that the Indian Premier League represents. I am also certain that the IPL fans in Kochi and Pune would be particularly excited with an IPL franchise for their respective cities."
Industry watchers, however, are sceptical about the time-frame each of the new franchises would need to recover such exorbitant amounts that they have pledged over a period of 10 years. Shailendra Singh, joint managing director of the Percept Group, which handles the account of Sahara India and has played a key role during their bids for Indian teams as well as this one, feels one should look long-term when looking at the figures. "Properties like the IPL are all about valuations. As I see it, IPL would become a listed property in international stock markets sooner than later and the vaulation would be the game changer here," he told the newspaper from London.
While Sahara have literally become synonymous with cricket sponsorship in India, not much is known about the winners of the Kochi franchise. According to informed sources, it is a consortium with five partners — the Rendezvous group, Parini developers, Anand Shah Estate, Anchor Earth Private Limited and Film Waves, with Shashi Tharoor, the minister of state for external affairs, instrumental in bringing together the group.
Twitter post: Tharoor plays it straight
Thrilled at Kochi winning a team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), a jubilant Shashi Tharoor clarified that he was not part of the bid but was pleased to give this venture his "encouragement and blessings".
"I am NOT part of the bid but was pleased to give Rendezvous Sports World my encouragement & blessings. My interest is in transforming Kerala," the minister of state for external affairs tweeted on the social networking site.
"Congratulations to all Kerala cricket lovers on news that one of the two new IPL teams will be based in Kochi," wrote Tharoor, a cricket buff and a co-author of a book on cricket.
"All I did on my part was to offer encouragement, blessings and expert advise when required to the bidders. Beyond that, I had no role to play. I understand it's a business decision," he told journalists in Kochi when he was quizzed on how the city had pulled off the coup.
— IANS
