IPL 10 under jeopardy as state associations face cash crunch

What’s the story?

This year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) is in jeopardy. There are just a few weeks left before the start of the tenth edition and there is a huge possibility that the event might not be staged at all as state associations haven’t yet received the money from the board to initiate the process for conducting the matches.

“Every year around this time we receive the advance payment from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). But this has not happened till now. We need the money to start preparing for the tournament. It will be quite difficult to stage an event of this magnitude on our own if we do not get the advance soon,” a Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) source told Sportskeeda.

In case you did not know

Each staging association is given Rs 60 lakh per IPL game. Of this, 30 lakhs come from the BCCI and the rest of it from the IPL franchise. The money is then spent on the games, practice, floodlights, ground preparation, ground staff etc.

For the last few years, the associations have been getting an advance from the board and the rest of the payment flows in through the course of the tournament and later.

But things are not the same this time around as the Supreme Court last year had stated that no BCCI funds are ought to be released to state associations unless they fell in line and adopted the Lodha Commission reforms.

As a result, the Test, ODI and T20I series against New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia were in jeopardy as the state associations declared they cannot bear such huge expenses.

The Supreme Court immediately granted relief, saying that payment could be made to state associations specifically for hosting the matches.

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The heart of the matter

Even the Karnataka State Association has said that the BCCI already owes them a lot of money, and staging the IPL without grants would be next to impossible.

There was also a customary meeting of the IPL committee and staging associations held in Mumbai recently, where reportedly almost every state association stated they were broke and unless the board sanctions them urgent funds they would not be in a position to stage the IPL games.

What’s next?

We have to wait and see if another order is given to release funds on an urgent basis for the tourney. Only if it is done, this edition of the IPL can go ahead.

Sportskeeda’s take

The IPL is one of the most successful franchise leagues around the world and not holding one this year might tarnish the image of the BCCI further. Therefore the board should look into the matter seriously and see what can be done to release funds to the state associations.

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