IPL venues may be in South Africa or England, or New Zealand
The uncertainty over the conduct and schedule of the prestigious and high profile Indian Premier League (IPL) 2009 20:20 cricket matches has got over with the BCCI deciding to take IPL outside the country.
Several state governments had earlier been reluctant to spare security forces for the protection of the IPL teams and venues as the 2009 Lok Sabha election season was also on.
BCCI top brass and IPL chief Lalit Modi has been in discussions with the Home Ministry for a couple of weeks now. But the talks were deadlocked, and the government was not amenable to the schedules suggested by the IPL. Lalit Modi had assured the media yesterday that IPL would take places no matter what – and this is the end-result.
An emergency Working Committee meeting of the BCCI which was held in Mumbai decided to take a final call on the cash-rich event could not find a way to conduct the 2009 IPL season in India despite BCCI chieftain Sharad Pawar who is also the agriculture minister in the UPA cabinet. The attitude of the government that it was not ready to spare security forces for the cricket tournament is said to have forced to take the decision.
The actual venue is unclear as yet. IPL chief Lalit Modi and the franchises have said that the venues could either be in New Zealand, South AFrica or England.
Security would not be an issue in any of those countries as it would be in India. Not just that, the matches would be telecast in India at 4 PM and 8 PM IST. So the TV audiences would still be there. While the IPL franchises would lose our on revenues from local ticket sales, ticket sales in countries with a large expatriate Indian population would be high – and ticket prices would be much higher too outside India. The franchises would save on the security costs, while the TV audience in India would remain.
It is being said that the BCCI had to shift IPL out of India for this season owing to the fact tat the state governments in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra had changed their stance at the last moment. While the Andhra Pradesh government revoked its earlier permission, Maharashtra Chief Minister wrote a letter that the state can’t host matches in that state until 13 May, 2009. There are also hints that Lalit Modi is closely associated with some BJP leaders, and therefore the Congress government was not very keen on helping him out.
The BCCI is now in talks with other boards who are willing to host the event. However, the BCCI has assured fans that the event will be go on and fans can watch the event on television. The new venue is expected to be decided in the next 3 days.
Though the venues would change, IPL Commissioner and Chairman Lalit Modi has clarified that the number of matches, format and timing of the event will remain unchanged and the organisers would not tinker with the integrity of the tournament. He added that dates and timings of the matches will remain the same.