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BCCI to lose over USD 500 million is IPL is cancelled: Treasurer Arun Dhumal

There were various media reports suggesting BCCI is mulling alternative windows like August-September and October-November to stage the IPL.

BCCI to lose over USD 500 million is IPL is cancelled: Treasurer Arun Dhumal

IPL trophy. (Photo: Twitter/@IPL)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to lose at least USD 530 million if the Indian Premier League doesn’t take place this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said board treasurer Arun Dhumal.

“The BCCI is looking at a big revenue loss. In case the IPL does not take place, the loss would be close to 40 billion rupees ($530 million), or even more,” said BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal as quoted by India Today.

IPL’s suspension would force the official broadcaster Star India to suffer a loss of over Rs 3200 crore. They had brought the broadcasting rights of the cash-rich league for a 5-year period between 2018 and 2022 at a whopping Rs 16,347.50 crore.

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The IPL 2020, which was scheduled to be played from March 29 was earlier postponed to April 15 before it was suspended due to the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus till further notice.

However, there have been various media reports suggesting BCCI is mulling alternative windows like August-September and October-November to stage the 2020’s edition of the cash-rich tournament. But all of the speculations lacked an official backing as the fate of IPL continues to hang in doubt.

“We are not sure whether we will be able to have it this year. We will only be able to figure out the exact revenue loss once we are sure of how many games we have lost,” Dhumal said.

But the BCCI treasurer had earlier quashed all the “media speculations” and said that the board would only think about the IPL after the crisis gets over.

Dhumal also said that there was no clarity if any foreign players would agree to travel to India even if the cash-rich tournament is hosted.

“We haven’t planned anything as of now. We can’t think of IPL getting back yet. Players coming in from other countries, whether they’ll be willing to come here and be quarantined for two weeks and play IPL is not known,” Dhumal said as quoted by Australian daily Sydney Herald.

“How can we think of IPL? This is all media speculation. There is nothing as of now. Once things get clear, then only will we be able to go back to the drawing board and think about re-starting cricket,” he added.

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