BOARD BUSINESS: IPL COULD BE 10-TEAM TOURNAMENT
INDIA’S cricket board will consider adding two new teams to the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament, according to the agenda of the governing body’s annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled to be held later this month.
The IPL, which has an estimated brand value of $6.8 billion (£5.1bn), drew record television and digital viewership during its 2020 season amid the turmoil of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Approval on inclusion of two new teams to the Indian Premier League” was listed on the agenda seen by reporters.
The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket) treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal said the meeting would be held at the end of the month, with Indian media reports saying the date of the AGM has been fixed for December 24.
“We have been thinking in terms of a 10-team IPL for some time now, and we’d like to have two new teams from 2021, if possible,” an IPL governing council member, requesting anonymity, said.
Local media has reported in the past that Indian conglomerates
Adani Group and the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, which owned the Rising Pune Supergiant franchise for two IPL seasons, have shown interest in buying new teams. .
During the AGM, the BCCI will also discuss its stand on the possible inclusion of cricket in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Cricket featured at the 1900 Olympics and was played in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, but has largely been absent from multisport events, which critics say has restricted the sport’s growth beyond its traditional pockets. The International Cricket Council, the world governing body of the sport, backs the idea of being in the Olympics, but the BCCI has been reluctant.
The BCCI, considered the world’s most powerful and richest cricket board, fears losing its autonomy and being answerable to India’s Olympic committee if cricket is part of the quadren
nial event.