The bidding process for the eight franchises that will compete in the Indian Premier League has officially begun with the release of the prospectus for the inaugural Twenty20 competition beginning in April 2008.

The tender inviting bids for the franchises will be announced sometime in December. Potential franchisees can submit bids for more than one city-team and must state the total fee they are offering for a franchise for the first ten-year term. The auction of players will immediately follow the awarding of the franchises.

The prospectus also laid out the manner in which the IPL's revenue would be shared with the franchises. The franchises will receive 80% of the television revenue over the first two years, 70% in the third and fourth years, 60% between years five and ten, and 50% from the 11th year onwards. In addition, they will also receive 60% of the sponsorship revenue during the first ten years, after which they will receive 50%.

Of the total amount to be distributed, 20% will be divided based on the final league positions of the franchises while the other 80% will be shared squally. The IPL's distribution model, which is based on their current forecasts for the first contracts for centralized television and sponsorship agreements, should be adjusted should the forecasts change.

The competition comprises 59 matches and spans 44 days with each franchise playing the other on a home and away basis. The top four teams qualify for the semi-finals, the winners of which will contest the final. The two finalists will in turn qualify for the Champions Twenty20 tournament, which has been provisionally scheduled for October 2008.

Each franchise's squad will have a minimum of 16 players and no more than four international players, drawn from the pool of contracted players, may play in a particular match. Four Under-21 players and four players from the franchise's catchment area must also be part of the squad, though these can be the same players.

The following cricketers have already committed to the IPL:

India: Ajit Agarkar, S Badrinath, Piyush Chawla, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Wasim Jaffer, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Joginder Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Sreesanth, Sachin Tendulkar, Robin Uthappa.

Australia: Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Brett Lee, Matthew Hayden, Nathan Bracken, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Jason Gillespie, Cameron White.

Pakistan: Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Yousuf, Shoaib Akthar, Younis Khan, Mohammed Asif, Shahid Afridi.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Zoysa, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando.

South Africa: Graeme Smith, Ashwell Prince, Herschelle Gibbs, Albie Morkel, AB de Villiers, Shaun Pollock, Loots Bosman, Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini.

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, Scott Styris.

West Indies: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle.