IPL player auction purse hiked to $7 million

The next IPL auction will have a salary cap of $7 million for each franchise, it has been announced. The auction, due to be held later this year, is likely to see all players available for signing for the first time since the inaugural auction in 2008.

"This would mean $70 million for the 10 teams every year and $210 million in three years," Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman was quoted as telling PTI. "This will be the single largest auction in sporting world, you see even in art auctions the bids are for a few million and that too for total ownership. In IPL, the amount that the teams would spend on players would be huge for having the contract for just three years."

Modi said the enhanced cap for auctioning would be for three years, starting with the fourth season of the IPL in 2011, and that the details of the increased ceiling and the auction programme would be announced after the current tournament.

Like in the initial auction for the 2008 season, Modi said there would be a three-year lock-in period for players acquired in 2011 as well, and that there would be "separate trading windows for the purpose", in case players or teams wanted to make changes.

The decision came on a day Subroto Roy, the Sahara Group chief who won the rights for one of the two new franchises added to the IPL, suggested an increase on the cap. Roy acquired the Pune franchise while Rendezvous World Sports bagged rights for the Kochi team, taking the total number to 10.