Bhubaneswar: Cuttack is among the six cities shortlisted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the two new teams proposed to be introduced in the Indian Premier League from 2022 through a tender process.
The other cities for sale are Guwahati, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Dharamsala.
While the date for the auction has not been finalised, a base price of Rs 2000 crore has been fixed for the new teams, a report published in Crizbuzz said.
This decision was taken to correct the pan-India balance of the league and also keeping business opportunities in mind since the consumption of sports in the Hindi-speaking regions is huge, the report added.
Ahmedabad and Lucknow are believed to be the top contenders owing to the bigger capacity venues, that is, the Narendra Modi Stadium ( with a capacity of 1,10,000) and Ekana Cricket Stadium (50,000) respectively.
Barabati stadium in Cuttack has a capacity of 45,000. It also was an alternate home venue for the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014 and was an adopted venue by former IPL team Deccan Chargers.
