BCCI planning nine-team IPL instead of ten for now
The BCCI is planning to announce on new franchise early next year to make IPL a nine-team affair instead of ten. The board does not have the window for a 90-game tournament but with nine teams the tournament will have 76 games which will be manageable and a decision will be taken in the AGM.
The BCCI earlier had the plan to announce a ten-team IPL in the year 2020 but now the reports suggest that they will most likely introduce only one new team to make it a nine-team affair until the year 2022. ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP) gives a window of a certain amount of days to the BCCI to conduct the IPL and a nine-team IPL will have 73 games which is something that the BCCI can manage in the given window.
“Nine teams work well until a new FTP can fall in place (2023) and BCCI can introduce the 10th team,” sources told TOI.
The BCCI is ready to give about INR 2000 crores to the new franchise and more than one venue are likely to be used for matches, The Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera is set to be available for matches from March 2020. With a capacity of 1.1 Lakhs, it is ready to be one of the world's biggest and fanciest stadiums and is likely to have a franchise of its own.
“There will be takers, given the following for cricket in Ahmedabad and the resources available there. So, if a tender is brought out for one franchise right now, there’ll certainly be a great amount of interest and will set a benchmark for the future,” say some other sources.
BCCI is facing some other issues too with the likes of Kochi Tuskers according to an arbitration need to be paid about INR 1500 crores and there are also other arbitrations going on with respect to franchises like Deccan Chargers and Sahara Pune Warriors on which the AGM will take a decision on December 1.
“Will Kochi Tuskers be offered money or a franchise? It’s a big question. Regardless of whether BCCI is in a strong position in some cases or on the backfoot on some, the point is that legal cases are on and smoothly settling them before beginning afresh is the right thing to do,” sources added.