To ensure that the two new franchises begin their run on an equal footing and there is a level playing field in IPL 2022, the BCCI is contemplating the option of allowing them “special picks” or buys of top players outside the mega auction, stated Cricbuzz in a report.
There is a likelihood of teams being given up to four retentions ahead of the next year’s mega auction. If that is indeed the case, the report stated, the RTMs seem improbable as that would give the existing teams an unfair advantage and ruin the base idea for IPL to retain its competitiveness even as the teams and the playing pool expands.
However, the Indian board has not finalised the details of the retention process yet and the current eight franchises will be communicated to on the matter only when a definite policy is in place.
The last time the IPL expanded to 10 teams was back in 2011 when Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala joined the roster. But only a season later, KTK got into a contractual altercation with the BCCI, and they were terminated, reducing the Premier League to a nine-team event for two more seasons before the Pune franchise withdrew over financial differences.
But with the changing landscape and economy, the BCCI is opening up the tournament again and welcoming two new teams on board for the IPL 2022. The board is expecting a huge financial windfall by selling two new teams, followed by the new broadcast rights cycle that will begin in 2023.
Earlier this week, the BCCI had to extend the deadline to purchase the Invitation to Tender document for ten more days. This was done as a response to the request made by various big businesses and corporate entities interested in buying the two new teams.
“Pursuant to requests from various interested parties, BCCI has now decided to further extend the date for purchasing the ITT document till October 20, 2021,”
a BCCI release said on Wednesday.
It is being reported that the extension was also required to make clear an issue related to BCCI’s mechanism to determine the net worth of individuals and companies.
The current net worth requirement set for an individual is INR 2500 crores; for companies, that jumps up to a return of 3000 crores.
While the base prize for both teams is likely to be INR 2000 crores, the total income through the selling of two new teams could be as high as 7000 crores for the Indian board, an unprecedented amount in the cricket economy.
With that in mind, the BCCI may hesitate to keep the retentions too lenient for the existing teams since they wouldn’t want the two new franchises to feel they are starting on an unequal footing.
Speculations are that the board could allow teams to make retentions of up to a maximum of two players each in the Indian and overseas categories, leaving a giant pool of players for new IPL teams to bid for and build a competitive squad around.
The IPL 2022 will have 74 matches, with each team playing 14 league stage games – twice against five teams and once against the rest four – to determine the top four.
