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IPL 2020: The biggest news in the World of Cricket
The Indian Premier league is the most-attended cricket league in the world. Founded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2008, IPL was ranked sixth by average attendance among all sports leagues in 2014. The brand value of this Indian professional T20 cricket league was INR 475 billion in 2019 according to Duff & Phelps. In short, it is the biggest celebration in the world of Cricket, especially in India where it is hosted every year.
There have been twelve seasons of the IPL tournament so far. The current IPL title holders are the MI - Mumbai, who won the 2019 season. The venue for the IPL 2020 season has been moved to the United Arab Emirates and will be held from September 19 through November 10 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
A few months ago reports were coming in that the much-awaited league is going to be canceled this year. However, in the recent meeting held by the BCCI for the IPL’s governing council and the franchise owners, the suggestion was made to move the league to a safer place, and thus, the board narrowed in on UAE after consulting the country’s officials and government. The long hiatus revolving around the cricket board’s financial health has finally seen some light after media reports suggested that payments within the cricket ecosystem. This edition is said to be the longest ever edition lasting over 53 days. The plan is to create a bio-secure environment to tweak a few rules to suit the current pandemic situation. The tournament is set to follow rules and regulations set by the recently held series between England and West Indies.
Experts have criticized the fact that the IPL 2020 is not being held in India given the fact that it is more than six weeks away. However, the state government’s inclination to revert lockdowns and the slow pace of return to normalcy has made this impossible. It is going to be a loss of economic opportunities for many in the Indian cricket ecosystem.
BCCI shares the detailed Plan
The BCCI chose to share their IPL 2020 plan for the UAE edition with TOI on Monday. Let’s check out all the parameters and measures for the much-awaited tournament:
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Pool Revenue: There would be no change in the distribution of BCCI’s central revenue pool since all 60 matches of IPL are being played in 51 days.
Gate Money: The board has termed letting go of the Gate money as “pittance”. The board suggested that if the IPL wouldn’t have happened, franchises wouldn’t be looking at any sort of Income.
Bio-secure environment: Strict mandates have been issued by the board regarding the safety of all the players and the people involved. Following this, the board has advised every franchise to create its own bubble in which the team will only be interacting with limited people in their own ecosystem or officials allotted to them by the BCCI. Another bubble will be created for BCCI and the IMG staff and broadcasters as well. No one will be allowed to interact with Individuals outside their bubble.
Medical assistance: All franchises will have to arrange for their own medical assistance teams apart from the central medical team arranged by the BCCI. Once the support staff and players land in UAE, the responsibility of testing will be on the franchises. The franchises will also be in touch with the BCCI’s medical team on a 24x7 basis. Medical teams of each franchise will stay in their respective bubble with their teams.
Travel and accommodation: All the franchises will have to manage their own travel arrangements and accommodation in UAE. The board will coordinate with UAE authorities to ensure discounted hotel rates and make it available to the franchises. It will then be the franchise’s responsibility to find the option that suits them or make their own arrangements. They will also fly their players to the UAE and back like every year.
The governing authorities and the board is yet to release the schedule but will be out with it soon, given the fact that the league is a little more than six weeks away. Experts from the media and sports enthusiasts are game on the fact that this one is going to be the biggest event this year in the world of cricket.
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