In a last-minute change in venue, Jeddah will host the Indian Premier League auction on November 24 and 25.

While Riyadh was initially shortlisted as the venue for the auction, Sports stars understands that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had to shift the event to Jeddah due to logistical reasons.

Sources have indicated that after conducting recce in both the cities, the BCCI’s operations team decided to zero in on the Abadi Al-Johar Arena in Jeddah keeping in mind the fact that it can accommodate larger gathering.

Last year, the event was held in the Coca Cola Arena in Dubai and keeping the grand scale of the mega auction in mind, the Abadi Al-Johar Arena was chosen. The fact that the city has some high-end hotels went in its favour as well.

“The venue for the auction will be Abady Al Johar Arena (also known as Benchmark Arena) and the accommodation will be at the Hotel Shangri-la which is at a distance of 10 minutes from the auction venue. Our operations team will be in touch for the visa and logistics requirements,” the BCCI wrote in an email to all the stakeholders, which Sportstar has access to.

This publication was the first to report that the event will be held in Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25 and this will be the second time the event will be held overseas.

The auction dates are set to clash on the third and fourth day of India’s first Test against Australia in Perth which begins on November 22. However, with Saudi Arabia having a favourable timezone, the two events won’t clash in terms of broadcasting slots.

This time around, 1574 players – including 320 capped players, 1224 uncapped players, and 30 players from Associate Nations – have registered for the mega auction, the BCCI secretary Jay Shah confirmed in an email on Tuesday.