The Glazer family that owns and runs what is considered the world’s most popular football club, Manchester United, has shown interest in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The US-based owners of the English Premier League’s marquee club, the Glazer family have reportedly picked up the Invitation To Tender (ITT) floated by the BCCI through a private equity company. It can be confirmed that the owners of Manchester United, the Glazer family are tracking the developments in the world’s most valuable T20 league with keen interest.
The ITT floated by the BCCI, one that has called for closed bids to be submitted in the last week of October has some strict clauses. For instance, potential bidders are expected to submit an average turnover of Rs 3,000 crore or a personal net worth of Rs 2,500 crore to be eligible to bid. The average turnover clause, nevertheless, was recently reworked by the BCCI after certain potential bidders made a specific request to lower the value in order to meet the eligibility criteria.
The Glazer Family That Owns And Rubs Manchester United Has Picked Up The Invitation To Tender (ITT) Of IPL 2022
The ITT also allows foreign entities to buy the ITT as well as submit the bid on the condition that should they win the bid, they will have to set up a company in India. IPL could soon see some Manchester United flavour as the Red Devil owners’ the Glazer family are reportedly interested in buying one of the two new teams IPL teams that will take part in the tournament in 2022.
“So, technically, overseas investors are eligible to submit a bid if they meet these conditions. We don’t really know whether Man U owners will come to the bidding table. What we certainly know is that they’ve shown interest,” say those tracking developments.
Among others who’ve picked up, the ITT are the Adani Group, Torrent Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, Hindustan Times Media, Jindal Steel (led by Naveen Jindal), entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala and three private equity players. As per BCCI’s last statement, Wednesday, October 20 was the deadline to pick up the tender documents available at a price of Rs 10 lac.
“A lot of people usually pick these tender documents to study and gather the information that tends to be otherwise very useful from a larger industry perspective. For instance, buying a bid document will tell me more about what the BCCI is planning next, in terms of the league expansion, etc.”
“For instance, if Disney has bought the tender document to buy the franchise, it doesn’t mean Disney is interested in owning a franchise. It will study the document because it has to plan its own media rights landscape,” say those tracking developments.
The ITT does allow foreign companies to own a team however they will have to set up a company in India if their bid is successful. It is not known yet whether the US-based Glazers will make a formal bid to own a franchise. Alongside Manchester United, the Glazer Family also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the US-based National Football League (NFL).
Ahmedabad Will Be Top Priority To Bid For An IPL Team
Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Guwahati, Cuttack, Indore, and Dharamsala are among the cities that will remain topmost on the minds of investors as they go about preparing to bid for the two new franchises.
“Obviously, Ahmedabad will be the top priority because of the brand new 1.10 lac capacity stadium and the kind of following the state has for the game of cricket. To be honest, Ahmedabad is long due to having an IPL franchise of its own. Since 2010, they have shown interest and had in fact come to the bidding table back then,” they add.
The BCCI hasn’t said anything yet on whether the final date of submissions will further be delayed from October 25. The formal announcement is expected to be made on the 26th and the bids will be submitted in the UAE.