The Indian Premier League will announce the two new franchises to be added to the 2011 edition of the Twenty20 tournament on March 8.
March 8 date for IPL franchise announcement
The Indian Premier League will announce the two new franchises to be added to the 2011 edition of the Twenty20 tournament on March 8.
Intense speculation has surrounded the owners of the two new teams to join the league next year after IPL commissioner Lalit Modi revealed an English Premier League team had expressed interest.
Modi said 12 cities are in contention for the tournament, four of which are already staging games this season.
Bidding
"Tenders can be collected from the Board of Control for Cricket in India office or the IPL office from February 21," said Modi on
twitter.com.
"The bids will be opened on March 8 in Mumbai.
"Details of the bidding process for two new teams will be in the tender document."
The cities in the running are Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Kanpur, Dharamsala, Indore, Cuttack, Gwalior and Visakapatnam.
Modi also suggested cities such as Rajkot, Pune, Vadodara and Kochi, which are currently in the process of building stadiums, may also bid for teams.
Access to venues hosting matches during the third edition of the IPL will be granted to the new team franchisees to allow them to familiarise themselves with the process.
The third edition of the competition gets underway on March 12, with 2009 champions the Deccan Chargers taking on the Kolkata Knight Riders.
