Glazers' interest in the IPL: What's the story?

Manchester United fans, get ready. The owners of the Red Devils - the Glazers - have shown an interest in buying one of the new Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises.

The Times of India reports that the Glazers, Avram and Joel, have picked up the Invitation-to-Tender (ITT), the deadline of which passed just a couple of days ago.

After spending heavily in the summer transfer market, not to mention funding the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, the Glazers have turned their attention to the world's richest T20 league - the Indian Premier League.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had floated tenders to invite bids for the two new IPL franchises. Although investors are welcome to bid for more than one city, they will have to settle for one. The six cities listed by BCCI are Ahmedabad, Indore, Cuttack, Lucknow, Dharamsala and Guwahati.

Foreign investors are more than welcome to submit a bid as long as they comply with certain conditions:

• Potential bidders should have an average turnover of ₹3,000 crores or a personal net worth of ₹2,500 crores in the last 3 years. However, the BCCI adjusted the average turnover clause recently to attract more potential bidders.
• If a foreign entity wins the bid, it has to set up a company in India.

But the question remains - why would the Glazers, owners of one of the marquee football clubs on the planet, be interested in an IPL franchise?

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What's driving the Glazers' interest in the IPL?

Despite being financially stable and boasting revenue of more than ₹5,000 crores in 2021, Manchester United still made a cumulative loss of around ₹1,400 crores in the last three of the four years.

Covid and the impact it had on football, in general, didn't help the cause but only added salt to the wound.

Compare this with two of the most successful IPL franchises - Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) - which reported profits over the same period except for one season.

As far as the valuation of CSK goes, in an unlisted market, it is believed to be around ₹4,200 crores (approx $0.5 billion). Meaning it is already halfway through to unicorn status and could soon become the first IPL franchise to achieve this milestone.

CSK are on track to become the 1st IPL team with the unicorn status

Unicorn status is given to firms with a valuation of equal to or more than $1 billion.

The new IPL franchise is set at a base price of ₹2,000 crores allowing the Glazers to buy it at a value cost, should theirs be the winning bid.

Another reason for the Glazers' interest in opening an IPL team could be to increase their presence in India. Not that they do not already have a global presence through Manchester United, but this could further strengthen their position.

This is true even more so with United's neighbors - Manchester City - having bought a 65% stake in Mumbai City football club. The Blues' have looked to further expand their presence via ownership of various football clubs spread across the globe.

Remember, the Glazers are used to the American sports model, meaning no relegation, no promotion, just guaranteed money every season. This is something that European football does not guarantee. Hence all the fuss about the European Super League a couple of months ago. Let's not get into that now, shall we?

Until match number 35 in the IPL, the TV viewership stood at the 380 million mark. Crazy to think that there were still 21 league games, the playoffs, and finals yet to be accounted for until the completion of the tournament!

This, along with the Indians' craze for cricket, seems like an obvious choice for foreign investors, such as the Glazers, to invest in the IPL.

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Multiple parties interested in the new IPL franchises

Picking up a tender does not really mean that the concerned party is going to make a bid.

Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone are also in the mix to own an IPL club

Along with the Glazers, many others have picked up the tender. Most notably: the Adani Group, Torrent Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, Hindustan Times Media, Jindal Steel (led by Naveen Jindal), entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala and other private equity players.

Recent developments also show that Bollywood couple - Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone - have also entered the race to own an IPL club. It could well be a joint partnership with the Glazers brothers.

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Exciting times ahead. Whether or not the Glazers brothers go ahead with the bidding war remains to be seen, but the fact that they have shown interest in the IPL is reason enough to believe that they are looking to enter the Indian market.