Justice RM Lodha had announced the verdict on the Indian Premier league (IPL) 2013 spot-fixing scandal on 14 July earlier this year. The verdict stated that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will remain suspended for the next two years and the Board of Control for Cricket in India respected the decision and stuck with it.
IPL Governing Council took a decision to add two new teams for the next two seasons and these two teams will replace CSK and RR. IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla had assured the franchises that the cash-rich tournament will continue with eight teams.
"The base price for the reverse bid from the central revenue pool is Rs 40 crore and the party which bids for lowest share from the central revenue pool will be the winner of the new team," Shukla had told PTI earlier this year.
The reverse-bidding will take place on 8 December and a number of companies have shown their interest in acquiring two new franchises for the next two seasons of the IPL. More than companies have bought the 'Invitation To Tender' (ITT) for the forthcoming bidding session.
"There is no franchise fee, so you don't pay a higher franchise fee and buy a team. Normally they pay the franchise fee and we give a share of the broadcast rights," another BCCI official told Cricinfo.
"In a reverse bid, say for instance a company bids asking us for only Rs 20 crore from the broadcast rights, while another company asks for only Rs 15 crore. The one that asks for less money from us gets the rights."
Chettinad Group, ITW, media entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala's Unilazer, Videocon, Group M, Intex Mobile, Haldirams, Yes Bank and RPG have bought the bid documents.
"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 top BCCI official was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo.