The Sanjeev Goenka-owned New Rising consortium and mobile phone manufacturer Intex today joined the high-profile IPL bandwagon as Pune and Rajkot became the two new franchises, replacing the suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for a period of two years.
The Pune franchise was bought by Kolkata-based business tycoon Goenka's company New Rising while the Rajkot bid was won by Intex Mobiles in the reverse bidding process in which the two teams were chosen.
Goenka will shell out Rs 10 crore per year to the BCCI while Intex Mobiles will pay Rs 16 crore for the two-year deal.
"They won't take a single penny from the BCCI. In fact they will pay the BCCI," Board Secretary Anurag Thakur told reporters after a meeting of the IPL Governing Council which also finalised April 9 to May 29 as the dates for the next edition of the League.
The teams were sold through the reverse bidding process for which the base price was set at Rs 40 crore and bidders had to quote an amount less than that. The lowest bidders were given the franchises.
The annoucement of the two new franchises was made at a press conference in which BCCI President Shashank Manohar, BCCI Secretary Thakur, IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla and representatives of the new teams were present.
The process was necessitated by the suspension of CSK and RR for the involvement some of their officials and co-owners in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.
However, both the CSK and RR will be allowed back in the league after serving out their suspension.
The interim franchises, which have been picked today, will participate in a draft to first retain their share of players on December 15. Pune will get to pick the players first because they were the lowest bidders.
The other three bidders in fray were Harsh Goenka of RPG properties, Axis Clinical and Chettinad Cement, all of whom quoted higher bids than New Rising and Intex Mobiles.
