Kolkata, My 15: Sourav Ganguly, the president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stated that pay cuts for Indian cricketers might soon become a reality if the IPL 2020 does not take place this year. Ganguly said that if the IPL does not take place later this season, BCCI may incur a loss of Rs. 4000 crore.
The IPL 2020 has been postponed indefinitely because of the Coronavirus pandemic that has the world in a standstill.
“We will have to examine our financial situation, see how much money we have and accordingly take a call. Not hosting the Indian Premier League (IPL) will cause losses to the tune of Rs. 4,000 crore which is huge” Ganguly stated.
Earlier BCCI treasurer Arun Dhamal also expressed concerns amid the coronavirus outbreak and admitted that the board will go through ‘financial troubles’ if the IPL 2020 does not take place.
“The BCCI will also be in a difficult position in case cricket does not return soon, especially the IPL.In that case, the BCCI will also have to face a lot of financial hardships.IPL is one of the major revenue-generating tournaments.”
BCCI has got one of the most lucrative balance sheets in the world of cricket generating cash reserves close to billion dollars.No other cricket board boats such solid financials.
According to the last balance sheet made public by BCCI for 2017-18, its cash and bank balance, as on March 31,2018 was a whopping Rs. 5,5216.18 crore. Along with this, they had invested Rs. 2,011.83 crore in fixed deposits and had a sum of Rs. 900 crore in escrow accounts to deal with various arbitration proceedings.
This lucrative balance sheet would have further been boosted by the IPL media rights deal with Star Sports who on average pays 3065 crore.
The below image explains how much BCCI stand to lose from both the IPL and other sources of revenues they have at their disposal.
BCCI earns Rs. 60.1 Crore per game from Media Rights partner for every international game played at home. India as per the 2020 FTP was only scheduled to play 15 games this season. Out of that South Africa tour to India is already wiped out because of Coronavirus outbreak and India has already completed 3 match series each against Australia and Sri-Lanka. India is scheduled to play only 3T20 / 3ODI’S against England at home in October in the only home series left this year. Assuming England series is also lost, BCCI will lose a whopping Rs. 1080 Crore for year 2020 from the home series.
These loses will just pile up if the ICC T20 World cup gets cancelled.In such a scenario, BCCI may lose their shares from the ICC revenues.
Meanwhile an alternative suggestion were also made to host IPL behind closed doors without the involvement of fans. However, Ganguly said such a proposition looks less attractive.
“Yes, the attraction will be less. I remember playing in such a scenario [when spectators were not allowed in for the final day after crowd disturbances at Eden Gardens] at the Asian Test Championship game against Pakistan in 1999 and there was a clear lack of excitement. If you have matches with restricted amount of crowds, not only would strict social distancing rules apply, the officials would also have to be very careful about how the spectators leave the galleries for home. The policing will have to be very strict. It’s a tough call and the situation we find ourselves in, is grave,” Ganguly added.
The Indian Premier League was scheduled to be held on 29 March but was postponed till April with the Indian Government suspending foreign visas. Situations became much worse for the IPL as a Nation wide Lockdown was imposed.BCCI has no choice but to suspend all cricketing activities till further notice.