Good News for Fans as Chinnaswamy Stadium Gets IPL Clearance

RCB fans can now get another wave of happiness, as the IPL action returns to Chinnaswamy Stadium. The venue almost went to the blacklist after the stampede which took place last year. Now it is likely to host five matches in the upcoming edition, being the home ground to RCB.

IPL action will now be back at the iconic Chinnaswamy Stadium. While the other teams started preparing for the next season, RCB was looking forward to its issues with the home ground. Following the deadly stampede which took place after RCB’s trophy win, the stadium remained in question to host IPL games.

But right before the IPL 2026 schedule was about to be released, a major report was made public for the same. Chinnaswamy Stadium will now be hosting five matches in the upcoming edition, which also comes as a boost for the fans and RCB. At the same time, the stadium is also expected to go through some upgrades for better management of fans.

RCB’s Home Games

Like each and every team, RCB will also be playing 7 home games. But not all of these home games for them will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Only five matches for them will be played at this venue, while the remaining two will be played at another stadium, which has not hosted an IPL game in almost a decade.

And it is the Raipur Stadium, also known as Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium. The last time this stadium hosted a game was back in IPL 2016, which was the clash between Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore. This stadium served as a home ground for Delhi, and now it will be a home for RCB for two games.

On March 3, Royal Challengers Bengaluru confirmed that the Chinnaswamy Stadium will host five games. This confirmation came via their social media handles and has enlightened the fans. Some reports also say that this ground is likely to host the opening ceremony of IPL 2026, since the team will be entering as the defending champions.

Bengaluru Stampede

The reason why Chinnaswamy Stadium remained in question to host IPL games was the stampede which took place on 4 June. RCB had just won their first IPL title in 18 years and decided to do a victory parade. For this, the franchise even decided to announce free entry for the fans, which resulted in chaos.

The stadium has a capacity of 35,000 but people turned up in the capacity of approximately 2 to 3 lakh. This resulted in a stampede, in which 11 people died and 50 people were injured. This incident took over the internet quickly, as the celebrations of the trophy win turned into mourning.

Eventually, the Karnataka Government blamed RCB management and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) for their negligence in hosting the event. Police also went on to arrest several individuals which also included RCB’s Marketing Head and representatives from DNA Entertainment, the event management firm.

Following the incident, the Karnataka Government announced a compensation of 10 lakh rupees each to the families of the deceased. Later, RCB also announced a compensation of 25 lakh each to the families of the deceased. They even announced RCB Cares initiative to prevent such things from happening in the near future.

With this initiative, the main objective was to make the stadium safer than ever. Working with the stadium authorities, they have now installed 300-350 AI enabled cameras to monitor the real-time crowd. Along with that, annual audits will also be done on the fan safety and on ground staff.

RCB's Home Ground Issue

Matches at Chinnaswamy Stadium have been an issue for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru ever since the IPL started. While the other teams are able to secure wins when they play games at their home venue, it has been quite the opposite for RCB. They have lost more than half of the games they have played at this venue.

Moreover, the team made an unwanted record in the last season. When they lost the third home game in IPL 2025, it made them the team to lose the most home games in IPL. So, the history of Chinnaswamy Stadium and Royal Challengers Bengaluru has not been that good for the fans and players to remember. Even in the last edition, the team's lost games came at this venue, except one.