According to a report by CricBuzz on Saturday, October 5, the 2025 mega auction for the Indian Premier League is likely to happen in Saudi Arabia later this year. It has been reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India has invited bids for the two-day event that the cricketing body is considering holding Saudi Arabia where either Riyadh or Jeddah may hold the event. The final word remains to be heard in this regard. While he did find time to have dinner with the new Aye team, Dubai too is in the reckoning but is reportedly not the BCCI’s number one choice this time. It had hosted the IPL 2024 auction.
The IPL 2025 auction is likely to take place in the last week of November.
“Finding a suitable venue or hotel has proven challenging for the BCCI so far,” said the official quoted above. While pricing should not be a huge issue for the owners of IPL franchises, arguably one of the richest leagues in the world, and the BCCI, arguably the richest sports body, finding a venue in Saudi Arabia has been especially tricky. The costs in Saudi Arabia are said to be several times higher than in Dubai, where the last auction was held in December 2023, Cricbuzz reports.
London had made the cut for the auction, but BCCI zeroed in on the venue due to cold weather at this time of the year. Now, officials are scrounging for a venue that can provide the entire IPL contingent – the two-day auction as well as delegations of all 10 franchises and broadcasters Jio and Disney Star – with suitable accommodations.
The IPL 2024 auction will take place on December 19, 2024, at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. As if that was not a major story alone, there has been quite a murmur in the cricketing circles about the concept of 2025 mega auctions, scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia, which would mark a new chapter in its history for the league.
Last month, the BCCI released the retention criteria for IPL 2025. All ten franchises can retain as many as six players from their IPL 2024 teams. Of the six retained, one of them needs to be an uncapped Indian player. According to the new rule, Indian cricketers who have not played international cricket in five years or more are to be treated as ‘uncapped’, and the same can be retained at Rs 4 crore.