Reports | Teams mentally prepared for latent IPL 2020 cancellation

Following the frenzied coronavirus outbreak, the sporting world had to make drastic rearrangements. The IPL wasn’t immune to the pandemic either, and the BCCI decided to push its start to April 15. However, regular discussions amongst the board, the team owners and the IPL governing council have been going on since. Now, even though the top brass across the aforementioned bodies are looking forward to a positive outcome here, they are subconsciously ready to face the IPL get cancelled this season.

According to a report by the IANS, the team owners have a fair idea of the situation that has brought the world down to a lockdown phase. And, hence as reported, the owners will have a conference call at 6 p.m. on Monday, to discuss it further. The owners unanimously agreed that safety comes before anything. 

“We are having a conference call today in the evening and we will discuss the situation, but just look around. Schools, colleges, malls, theatres have all been closed. In fact, even gyms have closed now after the fresh directive from the health department. So, in such a scenario, it is only obvious that we might get to a situation where the league may have to be called off for a season,” an official told IANS.

“See, we will be having basic loses of around Rs 15-20 crore which comes with paying salaries and other things that come with the successful organization of the league. But there are other loses as well like those that come from merchandise sales etc. While tickets and all are insured, these are loses which the franchises will have to bear if the tournament doesn’t happen. But then, we all realise that nothing beats human safety,” he added. 

Besides the major concern, for the IPL to happen the Indian board and the team owners also need to figure out a way to fly the foreign players in. The Indian government had on March 11 cancelled all visas, except for a few official categories, till mid-April. The Sports Ministry also followed this up by making it clear that all sporting events should be cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

“Rightly pointed, even as we keep talking about getting foreign players their visas, what also needs to be checked is whether the foreign boards will allow their players to come in if and when the government makes an exception for the players. While all boards want the IPL to happen at present, you never know what the call will be at the end of the month. It all depends on whether we see a drastic positive change in the situation,” he concluded.