IPL 2022 – Where is Ahmedabad IPL Franchise? Contrary to all rumours that are floating around – that the management of the Ahmedabad franchise is wooing players like Pandya brothers, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan & a coach like Ravi Shastri – the truth is AHMEDABAD IPL franchise at this stage doesn’t exist. Even after more than a month of announcing new IPL teams, BCCI is yet to give go-ahead to Irelia Company Pte Ltd (CVC Capital Partners) to operate & run the IPL team from Ahmedabad: Follow all IPL 2022 LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
“Don’t ask me, ask the secretary about this. We are unaware on the status & issue of Ahmedabad IPL team”, extremely irritated & frustrated BCCI official told InsideSport
It is worth noting that CVC Capital was announced as the winner of the IPL team for Ahmedabad on 25th October with a bid of 5625 crores. But since then the team is in controversy due to its alleged investments in a betting company.
BCCI on its part, neither has released any official statement on the team – nor any update has been given on any kind of due diligence i.e underway. InsideSport has learnt that BCCI is continuously taking legal opinions – but the issue stays unsettled for now.
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Where is Ahmedabad IPL Franchise? The IPL 2022 Player Retention deadline is ending on 30th Nov. Post the said period, the deadline for two new IPL franchises from Lucknow & Ahmedabad will start. They will be given a window till December 25th to finalize 3 players before the MEGA-AUCTIONS.
The truth for now is – IPL team of Ahmedabad team at the time of writing & reporting this story – DOESN’T EXIST. Seeing the situation, InsideSport asked following questions from the BCCI officials – but did not get any reply for them.
- Where is IPL Ahmedabad team?
- Why no clear-cut answers coming out of BCCI on the DUE-DILIGENCE process i.e underway?
- Will IPL 2022 be played with only 9 teams?
- Is BCCI planning to allocate the team to some other party?
No one is ready to answer these uncomfortable questions.
InsideSport earlier on 20th November spoke to one of the top official of BCCI – who admitted DUE-DILIGENCE on for the Ahmedabad team ownership and is taking some time.
“Due diligence for Ahmedabad franchise is still on, once that is done we will let you know”, said top BCCI official to InsideSport
InsideSport tried getting in touch with the officials of CVC Capital Partners as well – but mails sent to them did not get any response.
According to the available information with InsideSport, officials & representatives of CVC Capital Partners have been camping in Mumbai for the past two weeks – but have not got any positive response from the BCCI as yet.
IPL 2022: BCCI media rights tender delayed as ownership of Ahmedabad franchise stays undecided
IPL Media Rights Tender & Ahmedabad Franchise: The ‘no-clarity’ status on Ahmedabad franchise has also has resulted in delay of tendering for much-awaited IPL Media Rights for new cycle.
On Sep 28th BCCI did a official media release declaring that, ‘The IPL Media Rights tender for the cycle 2023-2027 will be released immediately after the appointment of two new IPL teams which is scheduled to be announced on 25th October 2021’
But even after the announcement of teams on Oct 25th – due to issue with Ahmedabad IPL franchise ownership, even the tender for media rights has got delayed.
When will be the issue sorted? When the IPL media rights tender will be released? InsideSport has further learnt that until or unless the issue surrounding the ownership of Ahmedabad franchise is not decided – the IPL Media Rights tender will not be released.
The tender has been drafted with an assumption of 10 team IPL for the next cycle. As the 10th IPL team stays undecided, the tender can’t be released as per one of the source closely working with the BCCI on the commercial tenders.
Potential Bidders Getting Anxious: Meanwhile the potential bidders for the IPL Media Rights tender are also getting anxious about the tender.
“We were expecting that the tenders will be released before the end of November but I guess BCCI was busy with the T20 World Cup, hence the delay. Meanwhile we are preparing ourselves for the bid”, said head of one of the top broadcasting company who is likely to throw their hat in the ring for IPL Media Rights tender.
According to the industry estimates the media rights tender should easily fetch 4-5 Billion for the BCCI. Some of the big names including incumbent Disney Star Network will be in the fray for the rights along with Sony Sports Network.
The new OTT plays like Amazon is likely to bid big for the IPL Media Rights portfolio.
But for now – all that is on back-burner. The bigger question is whether IPL 2022 wil be a 9 team affair or will it be played with 10 IPL teams?
