Two new IPL teams to be unveiled in December

New Delhi: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday informed IPL franchises during a meeting in Delhi that the two new teams would be unveiled by the first half of December.

According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, BCCI told the franchise officials that terms and conditions for the bid document would be finalized at the board's annual general meeting in Mumbai on November 9.

IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur and IPL COO Sundar Raman met chief executives and co-owners of franchises.

BCCI also took a decision to permit the successful bidders to choose any major city, except the home cities of the six current teams, to play their home matches.

"It is logical (to include Chennai and Jaipur) because this arrangement is only for two years. It is a bit of the incentive for the two new temporary teams because the fan base is already established in these two cities, " a franchise official told the cricket website.

Some team officials also raised their concern over IPL becoming a ten-team league after two years.

"If somebody buys the new team for $100 million then that becomes the benchmark. In IPL there has never been a benchmark. So if in 2018 the IPL decides to stick to ten teams, then the new benchmark would be $100 million around which rest of us would need to hover," a franchise official said.