'Insane numbers!': Twitter reacts to new IPL franchises getting sold for over a billion dollars

Dubai: Two more franchises have been added to the world’s biggest and richest Twenty20 league after the new owners spent a combined total of more than $1.6 billion to acquire their teams, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Monday. Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG group won the bid for Lucknow in the Indian Premier League with an offer in excess of $932 million while the private equity firm, Irelia Company Pte Ltd. (CVC Capital Partners), will own Ahmedabad after making a bid of more than $692 million. “It is heartening to see the inclusion of two new teams at such a high valuation, and it reiterates the cricketing and financial strength of our cricket ecosystem," BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said in a statement. “True to IPL’s motto of ‘Where Talent Meets Opportunity’, the inclusion of two new teams will bring more domestic cricketers from our country to the global stage." [caption id=“attachment_8785861” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Representational photo. Image: Sportzpics[/caption] It will be the second time that RPSG group has owned a team in the IPL. It also owned Rising Pune Supergiant which competed in 2016 and 2017, when the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals franchises were banned. Irelia, which has offices in Europe, Asia and the Americas, has been involved in Formula 1 and recently bought stakes in Spain’s football league, LaLiga. There were seven other bidders for the two new franchises that also included Avram Glazer’s Lancer Capital. The Glazer family owns Manchester United. The 2022 IPL season will comprise 10 teams taking part in two groups of five. Here’s how Cricket Twitter reacted to the announcement of the two new IPL franchises and their respective owners:  

Insane numbers! Close to US $ 2 BILLION for two #IPL franchises! Led by @rpsggroup in Lucknow and #cvccapital in Ahmedabad #IPLNewTeam

— Gautam Bhimani (@gbhimani) October 25, 2021

Some crazy numbers at the IPL bidding! Almost double the 3000 crore you were expecting? #IPLBidding

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) October 25, 2021

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Many congratulations to all the office bearers of @BCCI for biggest milestone in the journey of @IPL . It’s big achievement that two teams have been added in ipl with such a huge valuation. Thanks to @SGanguly99 @JayShah @ThakurArunS Brijesh patel and officials of BCCI

— Rajeev Shukla (@ShuklaRajiv) October 25, 2021

Looks like the Glazers and Manchester United have been outbid in the IPL franchise auction.
Top bid was 7200 Crore which, if my calculations are correct, is almost £700million. Next highest was 5200 Crore from CVC Capital, who already have interests in rugby union and F1.

— John Etheridge (@JohnSunCricket) October 25, 2021

congratulations to the new winners of two new #ipl teams. amazing new price of 7000 crores for luckhnow by #goenka group and 5600 crores for ahmedabad by #cvc capital 🥁🙏😁

— Lalit Kumar Modi (@LalitKModi) October 25, 2021

I must admit I am blown away by the size of the bids. The cricket economy just gets more buoyant and I don't see how it can stop at 74 games a year. This is a huge vote of confidence in the Indian consumer's willingness to watch the #IPL.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 25, 2021

It had to be an outrageous bid to go past the Adanis and the Glazer family. 🤯 1.7 billion dollars in total.😱 Also shows two things: The power of the brand IPL, and the fear of missing out! Congratulations to Goenka group and CVC Capital. Welcome to the #IPL.

— Ajith Ramamurthy (@Ajith_tweets) October 25, 2021

  With inputs from AP