Bidding process heats up

Three-day bidders seminar begins at State Association

The three-day discussions were intended to brief the interested parties regarding the formalities of franchise and players auction, to be held on August 3 and 8 respectively, and the basic ethos of maintaining a team. It was also a platform for the bidders to voice their doubts regarding various procedures with the officials.

“So far we have received applications from 31 bidders for the eight teams in the KPL. They have already paid the Rs 10,000 non-refundable demand draft essential to be a part of the bidding. It’s a very keen response and we are expecting some more responses before the auction day,” Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, president of the KSCA, said during a press do after the first day’s seminar.  Ten more bidders, it is learnt, joined the fray late in the day, taking the total to 41.

KSCA Secretary Brijesh Patel too addressed the bidders that included actor-turned-politician Ambareesh, former India paceman Dodda Ganesh, India and Karnataka left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi and Prakash Rai, the State Working President of Jaya Karnataka party and a confidante of Muthappa Rai, who is expected to bid for the Mangalore franchise.
Sandalwood actors Upendra, Ramya, Sudip and a clutch of politicians from Bangalore and other districts have reportedly shown interest in buying KPL teams. Wadiyar said the franchise documents, which were expected to be distributed on Monday, will now be given to the bidders on Saturday. There were some rumours of KSCA officials being part of the KPL bidding process, but Wadiyar quashed them saying that none of the office-bearers will be a part of the auction.

“As a matter of policy we have decided that none of the managing commitee members, including president and secretary, should be part of any franchise and we shall focus on the administrative part,” Wadiyar said.