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All you need to know about the RPSG, CVC groups and the two new IPL franchises

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Last updated on 25 Oct 2021 | 03:58 PM
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All you need to know about the RPSG, CVC groups and the two new IPL franchises

The explainer which will tell you everything you need to know about Monday’s happenings, and what lies ahead

Which cities will the two new franchises be based on?

Lucknow and Ahmedabad will be home to the two new franchises, which will come into existence from the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League.

Where will the matches be played?

In all likelihood, the Lucknow-based franchise will play its home-matches at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Uttar Pradesh - which can hold up to 50,000 people - while the Ahmedabad-based franchise will play at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the largest cricket stadium in the world (capacity 132,000). 

Who are the owners of the two franchises?

The RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group (Lucknow) and CVC Capital Partners (Ahmedabad) will own the two new franchises. The two groups claimed ownership via a bidding process that was held on Monday (October 25) by the BCCI.

What was the cost of the bid?

Quite remarkably, the top bid was INR 7090 crore placed by the RPSG Group. CVC Capital, meanwhile, bid INR 5625 crore to claim ownership of the Ahmedabad-based franchise. These are astonishing figures, keeping in mind the minimum bidding price set by the BCCI was INR 2000 crore.

Who were the other bidders who missed out?

The two biggest names among the bidders were the Adani Group and Lancer Capital (who are owned by Avram Glazer, part of the Glazer family that owns Manchester United). These two groups were expected to be heavy favorites to win the bid, but ended up being outbid by the RPSG Group and CVC Capital. 

The Naveen Jindal-owned Jindal Steel, Torrent Pharma, Hindustan Times Media, Kotak Group and AirCargo were the other six groups who were approved in technical valuation and participated in the bidding process. 

What do we know about the RPSG Group and CVC Capital?

The RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group was founded in 2011 and it is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Kolkata, India. Famously, the group previously owned the Rising Pune Supergiant franchise that was in existence for two years (2016 and 2017). The now-defunct Pune franchise, which was owned by RPSG, in fact reached the IPL Final in 2017. 

In 2020, the RPSG group bought a majority stake in Mohun Bagan Football Club. The group also owns RPSG Mavericks Kolkata, one of the six city-based teams in the Ultimate Table Tennis league. 

CVC Capital Partners, meanwhile, is a private equity and investment advisory firm with its headquarters in Luxembourg. The group was in the headlines recently, with them making a giant $3.2 billion investment in Spain’s La Liga. CVC also has current investments in the field of Rugby (Premiership Rugby, Pro14 Rugby and Six Nations Rugby) and Volleyball (Volleyball World). 

CVC’s most famous association, however, was with Formula 1. The group acquired the racing championship for $1.7 billion and sold it for $4.4 billion in 2016.

How will the addition of the two franchises affect the IPL?

The eight-team IPL seasons (IPL 2021 included), have overseen 60 matches, but the BCCI confirmed in a release that the 2022 edition of the competition will see teams play a total of 74 games. 

“The new franchises will participate in IPL from 2022 season onwards subject to the bidders completing the post-bid formalities as specified in the ITT document. The IPL 2022 season will comprise ten teams and will have 74 matches, wherein each team will play 7 home and 7 away matches,” the BCCI revealed in a release. 

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