Varun Pai
Manchester United owners The Glazers failed in their attempt to buy an IPL franchise despite competing in bidding process
According to journalist John Etheridge of The Sun, Manchester United owners, The Glazers, failed with their £400m bid to take over an IPL franchise.
The American family were keen on bringing a cricketing franchise into their sports ownership portfolio by adding a franchise from one of the successful cricketing leagues in the world. The IPL was incepted in 2008 and completed its 14th edition recently.
The two-month-long event is normally held in India but was shifted to the UAE in the last two years due to Covid-19. However, it was set to undertake a major change as the eight teams that existed were going to be joined by two new participants.
The criteria for participating in the bidding process was to have an annual turnover of £280m or personal wealth of £240m. The Glazers certainly qualified for that as their net worth was stated to be £3.4bn in 2016, according to Forbes (h/t The Sun).
They were looking to acquire one out of the two new teams but it has now been said that they were outbid in the auction. The bidding process is thought to have started at £195m, and the two franchises that were up for grabs were Lucknow and Ahmedabad.
CVC Capital Partners, who already have interests in Six Nations rugby union and Formula One, got ownership of the team that will play its home games in Ahmedabad.
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The team that is set to be based in Lucknow, on the other hand, was snapped up by the RPSG group, which is an Indian industrial and services conglomerate. The winning bids were £685m and £542m– a far way off from The Glazers’ £400m attempt.
Thus, while they would have hoped to add to their sports ownership portfolio and also grow the profile of Man United in India, they will have to wait until the IPL decides to add some more teams to the competition.
