The octangular Indian Premier League (IPL) will get even bigger with three more teams set to come into its fold from 2011, according to BCCI president Sharad Pawar.While Pune (Maharashtra) is virtually assured of an IPL team of its own, two more will come up at soon-to-be-decided locations in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.“We invite bids from prospective buyers, and three highest bidders will be selected. In Gujarat, it will be either Ahmedabad or Vadodara and in Uttar Pradesh, it will be Kanpur or Lucknow. Noida is also an option,” said Pawar on Sunday. He also ruled out having 10 teams for the next edition of the Twenty20 competition, citing that as per an agreement, a part of the earnings from TV rights goes to the teams for three years. “Eighty per cent of the TV rights in the first three years goes to the franchises. So if there are more teams, there will be a problem in distribution of the money. So, there will be more teams but from the fourth edition only,” said Pawar.The BCCI chief was ecstatic about the success of the first edition of the IPL. “It has united families as parents and children watched matches together in the evening. It has also unearthed new talents. Nobody had given Rajasthan Royals even an outside chance to win. But they did it with relatively unfamiliar players,” said Pawar. Meanwhile, board secretary Niranjan Shah said the Rs 250 crore profit from the first edition of IPL will be distributed among the state associations. “The money we earned will be used for the development of the sport, which includes building stadiums and improving infrastructure,” he said.
