Dubai, October 25: It is no secret that IPL is the most valued cricket league in the world. Hence, it is quite natural to see some corporate giants, top industrial houses entering the fray to own the two new teams to come into existence from IPL 2022.
There are familiar names like Adani Group, Goenka Group, Aurobindo Pharma, Torrent Pharma etc in the running for the teams who base price is set at Rs 2000 crore.
But much to the surprise of many, Premier League giants Manchester United too want a share of the pie as they have made a bid through the Glazer family, principal owners of the club.
Now, it has come to light that another big-time sports club is interested in buying a team in the IPL, and we are talking about baseball giants New York Yankees as per a report in the Outlook.
The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball in the USA and had last won the championship in 2009. The Yankees is controlled by Yankee Global Enterprises, a consortium headed by the family of late George Steinbrenner who bought the team in 1973.
Earlier, sources in the know of developments confirmed the presence of the Manchester United owners in the UAE for the big day.
"Yes, they are here. We will know by afternoon on which two cities have teams and who are the owners," a source was quoted as saying by the ANI.
Manchester United owners showing interest to be a part of the IPL 2022 may be one of the reasons why the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on September 21 informed they have decided to extend the date for purchasing the Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the right to own and operate one of two proposed new IPL teams document till October 10 from the initial deadline of October 5.
Earlier, sources in the know of this development had confirmed the interest shown by Manchester United owners.
"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," the source pointed out.
The Governing Council of the IPL had issued the 'Invitation to Tender' ("ITT") document available on payment of the non-refundable tender fees on August 31, 2021.
"Pursuant to request from interested parties, the BCCI has now decided to extend the date for purchasing the ITT document till October 10, 2021," BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
The BCCI has identified six cities as potential base for the new teams and as things stand now, Ahmedabad and Lucknow are frontrunners.