 "Sanjiv Goenka (left), chairman, and Shashwat Goenka, head, Spencer's Retail, R P Sanjiv Goenka Group, at a conference in Kolkata on Tuesday")
The cities of Pune and Rajkot were on Tuesday added as the two new franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL), replacing the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two years.
But it was the winners of the reverse auction that drew much of the attention following the IPL governing council's meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday. Kolkata-based industrialist Sanjiv Goenka's company New Rising picked up the Pune franchise, while the Rajkot bid was won by the Delhi-based Intex Technologies.
New Rising and Intex will pay the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which runs the IPL, Rs 16 crore and Rs 10 crore respectively for the next two years.
The two emerged as the lowest bidders in the reverse auction, which initially saw as many as 20 companies showing interest. Bids that were opened today included those of RPG Properties, promoted by Harsh Goenka (brother of Sanjiv Goenka), Axis Clinical and the Chettinad Group, besides Intex and New Rising.
"We had originally bid for the Kolkata franchise during the first auction, but Red Chillies (Shah Rukh Khan's company) outbid us by a small margin," Goenka said at a press conference today.
According to Goenka, IPL is a mature property and even a two-year window will offer a significant marketing opportunity for the group. "Next year will be the ninth edition of the tournament, so it's a mature property. But we do feel the business of sports has enormous potential," Goenka said.
Goenka also owns the football franchise Atletico de Kolkata, part of IMG-Reliance's Indian Super League, which has completed two seasons so far.
In a statement, Keshav Bansal, director, Intex Technologies and owner of the Rajkot IPL franchise, said, "We are thrilled to have won the ownership bid for the Rajkot IPL team. I have always been a sports enthusiast and regularly play cricket, squash and football. The IPL has a symbiotic fit with Intex and the association will contribute to the growth of the (Intex) brand."
Now that the city franchises and their owners have been announced, they will participate in a draft to first retain their share of players. Players from Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals will be divided into two groups and the top names will be sold through the draft system. The two new teams will have a minimum of Rs 40 crore and a maximum of Rs 64 crore to buy their players.
Neither Goenka nor Intex responded to specific queries on whether cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was part of Chennai Super Kings, was on their wish list. "Dhoni is one of the finest cricketers to play the game," Goenka said. Intex chose not to spell out its player bidding strategy at all.
