IPL 2021 Postponement To Cost BCCI To The Tune Of ₹2000 Crore; Sponsors And Broadcasters Back Board's Decision

The world's richest cricket board - Board of Control for Cricket in India - stands to lose over Rs 2000 crore of the broadcast and sponsorship money earmarked for this year's Indian Premier League which was indefinitely postponed on Tuesday due to COVID-19 cases in its bio-bubble. The BCCI was forced to postpone the IPL after multiple cases of COVID-19 among players and support staff emerged from Ahmedabad and New Delhi in the past couple of days. The 52-day 60-match tournament would have concluded in Ahmedabad on May 30. However, only 24 days of cricket was possible with 29 completed games before the virus halted proceedings.

"We would be losing anything between Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 crore for the midway postponement of this season. I would say something in the range of Rs 2200 crore will be closer to accurate estimation," a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

The biggest loss for BCCI is the money it gets from Star Sports for the broadcast rights of the tournament.

Star has a five-year contract worth Rs 16,347 crore which is Rs 3269.4 crore per year. If there are 60 games in a season, the per match valuation comes to approximately Rs 54.5 crore.

If Star pays per match, then the amount for 29 matches would be Rs 1580 crore approximately out of what would have been Rs 3270 crore for a full tournament. This means a loss of Rs 1690 crore for the Board.

Similarly, mobile manufacturers VIVO, as tournament's title sponsors, pay Rs 440 crore per season and BCCI is likely to get less than half of that amount because of the postponement.

Add to it, associate sponsor companies like Unacademy, Dream11, CRed, Upstox, and Tata Motors, who pay in the range of Rs 120 crore each. Some subsidiary sponsors are also there.

"Slash all the payments by half or a bit less and you will be reaching a loss in the range of 2200 crore. The actually losses could be much more but this is a back of the hand calculation for the season," the official said.

The loss of a substantial amount of money will also reduce the central revenue pool for the season (the money that BCCI distributes among eight franchises) to nearly half.

The official, however, didn't divulge how much each franchise would lose due to the suspension of the tournament. "It is difficult to say what kind of sponsorship and co-sponsorship money they earned this season as the economic climate has been pretty hostile," he said.

Broadcaster Supports BCCI Move

Star India, the official broadcaster of the Indian Premier League, on Tuesday supported the BCCI's decision to indefinitely suspend the lucrative T20 event due to a COVID-19 outbreak in its bio-bubble. The suspension of the league was announced after Sunrisers Hyderabad's wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha tested positive for COVID-19 along with Delhi Capitals' veteran spinner Amit Mishra.

"Star India supports BCCI's decision to postpone IPL 2021. The health and safety of players, staff and everyone involved in the IPL are of paramount importance. We thank the BCCI, IPL Governing Council, players, franchisees and sponsors for their support," Star India said in a statement hours after the BCCI decision.

On Monday, Chennai Super Kings bowling coach L Balaji along with Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers Sandeep Warrier and Varun Chakravarthy had also returned positive results.

The broadcasters also said that it was "indebted" to its employees, on-air talent, production and broadcast crews for delivering the broadcast to millions of houses in these challenging times.

"We are also indebted to our employees, on-air talent, production, and broadcast crews for trying their best to spread positivity by delivering the broadcast of IPL 2021 to millions of homes in the face of challenging circumstances," the statement added.

Players' Payment Would be Based on Duration Rather Than Pro-rata

In case players are available only for a part of the tournament, the salaries are paid on pro-rata basis which means "assigning an amount to one person according to their share of the whole".

However, a senior player said that pro-rata is only applicable when a player voluntarily makes himself available for only a part of the tournament based on the matches available.

In this case, the organizers have halted the event so the franchises are likely to pay for at least half of the season.

( With PTI Inputs)