BCCI set to lose over INR 2000 crores after IPL 2021 postponement amid Covid-19 crisis

The Board of Control for Cricket in India is set to lose a whopping amount of more than INR 2000 crores after it was forced to postpone the 14th season of the Indian Premier League.

The Indian board is expected to miss a major chunk of revenue from the broadcasting rights of Star Sports.

The BCCI had to postpone the event on Tuesday after a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. Delhi Capitals’ leg-spinner Amit Mishra and Sunrisers Hyderabad wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha were tested positive Covid-19 on Tuesday.

Later in the day, Chennai Super Kings batting coach Michael Hussey was tested positive for the virus after their bowling coach Laxmipathy Balaji and a bus cleaner were tested positive on Monday. Thus, it was a guile decision from the Indian board to postpone the event indefinitely.

“We would be losing anything between Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 crore for the midway postponement of this season. I would say something in the range of Rs 2200 crore will be closer to accurate estimation,” the Press Trust of India quoted a senior BCCI official as saying.

Only 29 matches were hosted in the 60-match tournament and thus the remaining 31 games were postponed. The 30th match of the tourney between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders was initially rescheduled after two KKR players were tested positive.

The biggest loss which BCCI will suffer will be from broadcasting rights from Star Sports. Star has a five-year contract with BCCI which is worth INR 16347 crores. Thus, BCCI approximately gets INR 3270 crores per year from Star Sports for a single season of the IPL.

Thus, if there are 60 matches in a particular season of the IPL, like there were in 2021, the value of each match is 54.5 crores, which Star pays to the BCCI. However as 31 games couldn’t be hosted as scheduled, the BCCI will lose a hefty amount of INR 1690 crores.

Furthermore, there will be losses from the plethora of sponsors of the event, as it couldn’t be completed as planned.