Reports | Unhappy franchisees set to meet after BCCI slashed total prize pool to Rs 25 crore

03/04/2020

BCCI decides to halve the prize money corpus to Rs 25 crore from this season of the Indian Premier League. The IPL franchisees, who are upset with the BCCI's decision on reducing the prize money will soon meet to decide the course of action over the board's unexpected move.

While the prize money to be distributed among the top-four teams stays at Rs 50 crore, the play-off standing fund to be distributed among the franchisees has been slashed from Rs 50 crore to Rs 25 crore. On top of that, they will have to pay Rs 50 lakh to state associations for hosting an IPL game, an increase of Rs 20 lakh. An official from a South-based franchise said that they are unhappy that the play-off standing fund has been halved without them being consulted.

"We are unhappy that the play-off standing fund has been halved. We were not even consulted. The franchisees have been discussing it informally and will soon have a formal meeting to discuss the issue," said a franchise official, reported Times Of India.

The winning franchise now stands to earn Rs 10 crore from the play-off standing fund as compared to Rs 25 crore earlier, runners-up Rs 6.25 crore instead of Rs 12.5 crore and Rs 4.3 crore each for teams which finish third and fourth (earlier it was Rs 6.25 crore). Another franchise official termed this news to be a big hit for them and other franchises.

"It is a big hit. We are discussing it internally as well as with other teams. All the teams are meeting soon to discuss it," said an official from another franchise.

While Defending champions Mumbai Indians are all set to host the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL opener at Wankhede Stadium on March 29.