Leading British businessman Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim will submit improved bids to buy Manchester United after the initial deadline was extended at their request.
There could be eight or more interested parties.
All would-be owners were initially told they had until 9pm on Wednesday to submit second, revised bids for the world-famous football club.
BBC Sport has been told several other proposed investors had met the initial deadline.
It is unclear when the new deadline will be.
Sir Jim and Sheikh Jassim are the only publicly-declared bidders. It is understood that both had submitted requests to Raine - the investment bank conducting the sale - for more time to make their second offers, which was granted.
Meetings
BBC Sport has learned that United officials met eight different potential investors over a 10-day period of high-level meetings recently, including Sir Jim and representatives of Sheikh Jassim.
The size of their initial bids has not been disclosed, but they were thought to be below the £5billion-£6billion valuation that American owner the Glazer family has established - a figure that would smash the record £3.71billion paid for a sports team.
Whether any prospective owner is able to submit an offer that persuades the Glazers to sell is the key question.
If not, and with United's fortunes on the pitch improving significantly in recent months under manager Erik ten Hag, the Americans may well yet decide to retain the club and perhaps instead look to sell a minority stake to the likes of US hedge fund Elliott Investment Management.
Sir Jim wants all 69% of the Glazer family stake, and may also seek to buy the rest of the shares which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
It was last November when the Glazer family said they were considering selling United.
Former glories
Announcing its initial bid, Sheikh Jassim's Qatari consortium said the offer "plans to return the club to its former glories".
Described as a life-long Manchester United fan, Sheikh Jassim is chairman of Qatari bank QIB and the son of a former prime minister of Qatar.
The Qatari bid for United would wipe out all the club's debts, which still stand at £515million net following the Glazer family's leveraged buyout in 2005 of £790million, funded with borrowed money.
Sir Jim is chairman of global chemical company INEOS.
He is believed to have been working with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Any debts from a takeover by the British entrepreneur would not be loaded onto the club, as was the case with the Glazers.
Sir Jim is a United fan, but also tried to buy Chelsea last summer.
History of Investment
INEOS has a history of investment in sport and owns French Ligue 1 club Nice and Swiss club Lausanne.
Its sporting portfolio also includes high-profile sailing team Ineos Britannia and a five-year partnership with Formula 1 team Mercedes, while it took over the British-based Team Sky in cycling in 2019.
At the time of the first bid, it was understood the proposal would emphasise Manchester-born Sir Jim would be "a British custodian for the club" and would aim to "put the Manchester back into Manchester United".