BCCI’s decision to reduce the amount that the eight franchises would have received had met with opposition. The franchises have written to BCCI asking it to reconsider the move, but IPL chairman Brijesh Patel told HT: “The franchises’ views will be put up before the IPL Governing Council that will meet soon. Then we will decide. But it’s unlikely that we can have any change.”
Franchises of the four teams qualifying for the playoffs were being awarded from a ‘playoff standing fund’ of R50 crore, with the winners getting R20 crore. This prize fund has been halved by BCCI, which has argued that the franchises are now self-sufficient. “This fund was in place because the franchisees told us in 2013 that they were not making money in IPL. Now they are doing well. It’s just loss in profits (for them),” Patel said.
In the letter to BCCI, the franchises call the fund “a strong incentive for teams to continually improve the performance”. It adds: “We collectively believe rewinding that will be a step backward in the progress of the IPL.”
The other point of contention is the BCCI decision to raise the venue staging fee for franchises from R30 lakh to R50 lakh, payable to the associations that stage the matches. “The associations bring about no improvement in stadium facilities and want more money,” a franchise official told HT.
BCCI is not inclined to reconsider this move either. “It’s not just decided that the franchises have to pay the associations more, even BCCI is paying them more. The state unit’s expenses too have gone up,” Patel said.
However, some franchises are upbeat. They are hopeful as their presenting a collective view itself is a first and reflects strength, and feel some among the BCCI top brass could be considerate. “It’s important for BCCI to respect the franchises as stakeholders and give them their due. We will be watching BCCI’s response closely,” a top franchise official said.
