IPL 2020: Market not in a position to support T20 League, says Star India chairman

There is still no clarity on the future of the Indian Premier League, which was deferred indefinitely in the wake of the pandemic.

The Indian Premier League has been indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The suspension of all cricketing action because of the COVID-19 pandemic has created problems aplenty for broadcasters and administrators alike.

There is still no clarity on the future of the Indian Premier League, which was deferred indefinitely in the wake of the pandemic. The cancellation or prolonged postponement of the IPL will certainly have an impact on the finances of the BCCI. That coupled with the global economic impact of the crisis is likely to discourage advertisers from spending a fortune on the T20 League should it go ahead.

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“If there is one tournament where advertisers will put money, that is IPL but only if they have to put monies. The market has gone through massive shock. Whether it would recover enough to put thousand of crores worth of advertising in next 6-8 weeks is the real issue and we doubt that”, Uday Shankar, the Star & Disney India Chairman, was quoted as saying by ET Now.

"I am not sure the market is ready to support the IPL with the same fervour," he added.

Since 2018, Star India on average pays ₹3,270 crore annually for media rights. Besides, the BCCI earns approximately ₹700 crore in sponsorships (₹440 crore from title sponsor Vivo and ₹250-300 crore from associate sponsors). Even after distributing half of this revenue equally to the eight IPL franchises, the BCCI is left with an assured annual income of almost ₹2,000 crore, just from the IPL. The Board also receives approximately ₹60 crore from Star India for every international home game.

Earlier, the BCCI treasurer, Arun Dhumal, had said that there could be financial problems for the board and the state associations if there was no IPL this year.