Companies queue up for two new IPL franchises

The move to invite two new IPL franchises for the 2016 and 2017 seasons comes in the wake of the Lodha committee's suspension of the franchise owners of CSK and RR for two years. Around 15 parties have obtained the 2 lakh rupee ITT documents, reported the Hindu.

“Ten-twelve bids is quite a lot. Obviously there is a high-level of interest in the document, but who knows how many of these companies will actually translate this into a specific bid," a BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo.

Major companies including the Videcon group, RPG enterprises, RP Goenka group and the Chettinad Group are learnt to be among the firms that have shown interest.

The companies can seek clarification from the BCCI till December 4 before the bidding process starts on December 8. IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla had confirmed earlier that the franchises will be picked in a reverse bidding process. The companies can bid for any of the nine venues in Pune, Rajkot, Indore, Chennai, Dharamshala, Ranchi, Visakhapatnam, Nagpur and Cuttack.

In addition, five players each from the two suspended teams will be offered through a lot process to the new franchises. The other players will go through an auction process to find their new IPL homes.