The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) expects to sell each of the two new franchises in the range of Rs 4,500-5,000 crore, for which the IPL governing council decided to invite bids on Tuesday. The money-spinning league will be a 10-team affair from next year.

The minimum bid price for each franchise has been set at Rs 2,000 crore.

The governing council hopes to complete the process and unveil the franchises before the IPL final in Dubai on October 15. “The idea is to give the franchise owners a feel of how things are run before the end of the 14th edition,” a source told The Telegraph.

“We had earlier decided to keep the base price at Rs 1,700 crore. But given the huge interest and the positive feedback, we have increased it to Rs 2,000 crore. With business sentiments looking up in the post-pandemic period, the winning bid could stretch to beyond Rs 4,500 crore if industry estimates are to be believed,” the source reasoned.

Rajasthan Royals had recently sold 15 per cent of its stake to investment firm RedBird Capital Partners for a reported value of Rs 1,850 crore and that too has upped expectations in the Board.

Interested bidders will need to buy the Invitation to Tender document by October 5 on payment of a non-refundable amount of Rs 10 lakh.

There are six cities in the fray — Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Nagpur, Raipur, Guwahati and Ranchi. The successful bidders will own the new franchises for perpetuity.

Ahmedabad, which has the largest cricket stadium in the world, and Lucknow are the cities that are in pole position.

Lucknow has come into the reckoning after one of the top BCCI officials is learnt to have been hobnobbing with potential bidders for bringing the state cricket association into prominence. The city has revamped its infrastructure in the form of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium. Moreover, the state goes to polls early next year and a successful bid could enhance the stakes of the ruling government.

The Gujarat-based Adani Group is apparently not keen on bidding and some foreign investors have shown interest. Others in the fray are the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, which had a stint with the Pune franchise in 2016 and 2017; a few pharmaceutical companies and a prominent banker.

In the 10-team format, the BCCI is contemplating doing away with the home and away scenario and instead dividing the teams into two groups. It will result in 14 league matches for each franchise and 74 overall.