Manchester United owners The Glazers fail in their attempt to buy one of the two new IPL cricket franchises; Glazers miss out a day after United were beaten 5-0 by Liverpool at Old Trafford; New IPL franchises in Lucknow and Ahmedabad sold for a combined £1.2bn
Monday 25 October 2021 18:50, UK
The Glazer family, owners of Manchester United and the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, have missed out on buying an Indian Premier League cricket team.
After it was announced the IPL would be expanding from eight teams to a ten-team format, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) issued an Invitation to Tender (ITT) document to allow parties to register an interest in owning one of the two new franchises.
But just a day after United's humiliating 5-0 home defeat to rivals Liverpool in the Premier League, the Glazers have failed in their attempt to buy a new IPL team.
The RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, which owned the now-defunct Pune franchise for two IPL campaigns, won the Lucknow franchise with an offer in excess of £686m.
The Ahmedabad team was sold to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, which also has shares in rugby's Six Nations and Premiership as well as Spanish football's La Liga, after making a bid of around £541m.
It means the two new franchises sold for a combined £1.2bn.
Both teams will compete in the 2022 edition, which will have 10 teams and 74 matches where each side will play seven home and seven away games.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said: "It is heartening to see the inclusion of two new teams at such a high valuation, and it reiterates the cricketing and financial strength of our cricket ecosystem.
"The ITT process included two interested bidders from outside of India, which strongly emphasises the global appeal of the IPL as a sports property.
"The IPL is proving to be a wonderful instrument in globalising the game of cricket. I am keenly looking forward to IPL 2022."
The BCCI had set the base price for the new teams at £194m.
The eight-team competition was halted close to its halfway stage in May after two franchises reported COVID-19 cases.
The second half was subsequently shifted to the United Arab Emirates, with Chennai Super Kings led by former India captain MS Dhoni winning their fourth IPL title by beating Kolkata Knight Riders in the final in Dubai.
