No final decision on the IPL venues yet
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to wait till the announcement of the general elections’ dates before it finalises the venues for the Twenty-20 Indian Premier League tournament. The BCCI is also under some pressure from the sponsors who do not want the IPL to be moved out of India until the poll dates are announced. Part of the IPL is likely to be held abroad for reasons of security.
The BCCI’s Working Committee met in Bhubaneswar on Friday to discuss the matter. The meeting was held just days after the Union Home Ministry declared that it would not be able to provide security for the IPL, scheduled between 9 April and 3 June, because of the upcoming elections.
“A final decision on IPL venues will be taken after getting the schedule of general elections,” BCCI presi- dent N. Srinivasan said after the meeting. “If it was necessary, part of the matches would be played abroad. But nothing has been decided till now,” he added.
It is also learnt that, the IPL will only be held in South Africa if the T20 event is organised there in its entirety. Or else, Bangladesh or United Arab Emirates wil hold three to five rounds till the end of the entire election process.
“The members are of the opinion that it will be held in South Africa only if the entire election process with the countings and everything is not completed till the end of May.
“It will not be partl y held i n South Africa,” a senior working committee member preferring anonymity said . He also said that BCCI is keeping its fingers crossed and hoping that the counting finishes by May 15.
“Our vice-president Rajeev Shukla informed the committee that election dates will be announced by March 5. If the entire electoral process ends by May 15, then we can have the first few rounds in UAE and Bangladesh, which also won’t be a logistical nightmare,” the senior official added.
While South Africa is the front- runner having had the experience of hosting the second season of IPL, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is also among the countries being considered for the tournament.
Meanwhile, the structural overhaul of the International Cricket Council is all set to trigger a financial windfall for the already rich BCCI.
“According to my estimate, between 2015 and 2023 we (the BCCI) will get around $600 million,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said. On the substantial increase in the BCCI’s revenue sharing with the ICC, he said, “The BCCI has become one of the biggest contributors towards ICC’s earnings over the years.”
BCCI is contributing about 68% of the revenue and getting only 4%, he said. “I am pleased to announce instead of 4%, the BCCI will now get 21%. During 2015-23, the BCCI’s expected gross revenue will be close to $2.75-3 billion,” he said. Under the existing provisions, 75% of the ICC’s earnings are divided equally among the 10 member-countries.”