The biggest shock to emerge from the IPL auction for two new franchises was that Kerala’s commercial capital, Kochi was selected as host city for one of the winning bids. A little known consortium of companies known as Rendezvous Sports made a successful bid of $333 million to win ownership of the second side after the Sahara Group, who bid $370 million for a franchise to be based at Pune. Within minutes of the announcement many were shocked that a relatively unknown group had won ahead of the likes of the Adani group and Videocon.
Mr Lalit Modi, speaking on CNN-IBN confirmed that the team had won and was supported by Dr Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs, Member of Parliament out of the Thiruvananthapuram constituency who was keen to see team from Kerala join the IPL. A few moments after the bid was made Dr Tharoor expressed delight at Kochi winning the bid on his twitter page
Congratulations to all Kerala cricket lovers on news that 1 of the 2 new IPL teams will be based in Kochi.Cricket will inspire all Keralites
But was quick to distance himself directly from the bid, saying his primary interest was in transforming Kerala
I am NOT part of the bid but was pleased 2give Rendezvous Sports World my encouragement&blessings.My interest is in transforming Kerala#IPL
SoaL has learned that Rendezvous Sports is a consortium that consists of the following:
- Vivek Venugopal
- Anchor switches
- Rosy Blue Diamond
- Mukesh Patel
- Ravi and Sanjay Gaikwad
As this is still relatively breaking news we cannot confirm the authenticity or completeness of the above list. This post will be updated to reflect the most accurate and latest information as and when received. (Please See UPDATE 2 below)
UPDATE: From ThaiIndian,
Pooja Gulati, director Rendezvous Sports World, said: “Cricket is now popular throughout India and it does not matter if Kerala is not known for cricket. The new IPL team will change that notion.”
UPDATE 2: Lalit Modi on twitter has just confirmed who the Rendezvous Sports World consortium consists of, this post has been updated to reflect the same:
LalitKModi: Rendezvous group has Vivek Venugopal, Anchor switches, Rosy Blue Diamond, Mukesh Patel, Ravi and Sanjay Gaikwad as part of the consortium
Mr Modi also confirmed that until a new stadium is built at Kochi, the matches will be held at another BCCI venue:
LalitKModi: New ground in kochi will go into construction soon. Till its ready matches will be played at another bcci venue.
UPDATE 3: More updates from Lalit Modi on twitter, I presume “them” refers to Rosy Blue whom we were talking about just a few minutes earlier about on twitter
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Read the original Post Here: Who Are The Rendezvous Sports World That Won The Kochi IPL Franchise Team Bid?
