The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finalised the dates for the mega-auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season. As two new franchises are set to join the IPL from next season onwards, the BCCI has decided to hold a two-day mega auction wherein the world's best players will go under the hammer.
As per the latest developments, the mega-auction will be held in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13, confirmed IPL chairman Brajesh Patel on Tuesday. IPL's Governing Council held a meeting regarding the same on Tuesday in order to discuss various agendas, including the venues of the upcoming season.
It was being speculated earlier that the auction could be held in UAE, however, the BCCI has no such plans.
Given the emergence of the Omicron variant, hosting the mega-auction in Bengaluru would be a more logical option, owing to the fact that there could be certain restrictions in place over overseas travel if the cases continue to rise.
IPL 2022 will be a 10-team affair with Sanjiv Goenka owned Lucknow franchise and CVC Group-owned Ahmedabad franchise set to join the cash-rich league. As of yet, both the new franchises have till next month to announce their three draft picks ahead of the mega auction itself.
Furthermore, this is going to be the last mega-auction, as per various reports, as most of the original franchises want it to be scrapped. It is believed that most of the franchise owners feel that having a mega-auction every three years hampers the team's composition and balance.
Another big development that happened in the Governing Council meeting is that VIVO has ended its sponsorship deal with the BCCI as title sponsor of IPL, with Indian conglomerate Tata group set to take over from VIVO for IPL 2022 and 2023, after which the sponsorship deal will be again up for grabs.
