Manchester United owners Glazer family show a keen interest in buying the new IPL franchise.
Christiano Ronaldo's team Manchester United has shown a keen interest in buying one of the two new IPL franchises slated to take part in the tournament from 2022.
The 2022 IPL season will see the 7 billion dollars valued cricket tournament expanding its horizon with the addition of two new teams from the regular 8, with the BCCI already has invited tenders for the bidding process.
India inc has shown a keen interest in buying the two new teams with likes of Adani Group, Torrent Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, Hindustan Times Media, Jindal Steel (led by Naveen Jindal), entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala picking up the ‘Invitation to Tender’ (ITT) document which was available for purchase for the sum of 10 Lakhs till 5th of October.
According to reports, the Glazer family which owns Manchester United featuring superstars like Christiano Ronaldo has also picked up the Invitation to Tender (ITT) document from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCC) for the purchase of the two new teams for the upcoming season of the cash-rich league.
The document had some strict clauses which required the buyer to have an average turnover of Rs 3,000 crore or a personal net worth of Rs 2,500 crore to be eligible to bid. Certain prospective buyers lobbied for the clauses to be relaxed which the BCCI obliged to and also shifted the last date to pick up the ITT document to the 20th of October. Reports indicate Manchester United lobbied for the same cause too and hence the BCCI accommodated the request by extending the date.
Speaking to ANI, sources in the know confirmed the interest shown by Manchester United owners. The source said, “Well yes, it is true that they have shown interest and that may be one of the reasons why the dateline was extended by the BCCI. IPL is not just restricted to India, it is a global entity now.”
Currently, according to the tender clauses foreign bidders will have to set up an Indian company if they win the bid. Also, a lot of companies usually pick up these tender documents to study and gather insider information that tends to be beneficial from the larger industrial perspective like media rights. If indeed United buys an IPL team, it will throw up an interesting scenario pushing the league upwards in terms of brand value with the sky being the limit and it gaining an international visibility.
