"Yeah, the auction will be held, most likely, on October 17 and clarifications on the same can be sought up to September 21, the ITT (Invitation To Tender) document will also be available for purchase till October 5," said a BCCI official. "However, the confirmed date and venue will be intimated to the bidders later."

 

A bidder can bid for two to six cities, and currently, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Indore, Cuttack, Guwahati and Dharamsala are available for bidding. The BCCI had already made it clear that each bidder would have a net worth of Rs 2500 crore and the company has to have a turnover of Rs 3000 crore.

 

According to reports, few parties are believed to have bought the ITT document. One of them is Sanjiv Goenka of the RPSG Group who previously owned the Pune franchise for two years. Goenka is tipped to buy the Lucknow team.

 

Currently, the cash-rich tournament has eight teams and each team plays seven home and as many away games. However, in the revised scenario, there could be nine home and nine away games.