The BCCI secretary Jay Shah has said that the Indian Premier League will have a two-and-a-half-month window in the ICC’s next FTP cycle. The major decision was taken just after the conclusion of the media rights auction for the biggest T20 league on the planet.
On Tuesday, the history was written as the Indian Premier League (IPL) became of the biggest sporting leagues in the world as the tournament’s media rights were sold at a record-breaking price.
The Disney+Star managed to renew their collaboration with the marquee event as they successfully won the bid for Package A following an intense bidding war. The Star Sports Network bagged the TV rights in the Indian subcontinent for a staggering amount of INR 23575 crore. Meanwhile, the Reliance industries-owned media venture Viacom18 has bagged the Indian subcontinent digital rights for a jaw-dropping amount of INR 20500 crore.
Jay Shah addresses the IPL’s vision for future
During an exclusive interview with NDTV, the BCCI secretary was asked about the BCCI’s plan to manage the IPL window. He was further asked to clarify how the BCCI is going to accommodate the extended IPL schedule as the number of IPL matches being reportedly increasing to 94 from the next season.
In reply, Jay Shah has revealed that a discussion regarding the same has already happened with the ICC alongside the various cricket board.
“That is an aspect we have worked upon. Let me inform you that from the next ICC FTP calendar, IPL will have an official two-and-a-half-month window so that all the top international cricketers can participate. We have had discussions with various boards as well as the ICC”, revealed Jay Shah.
For the unversed, the IPL 2022 witnessed the debut of two new teams – Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. However, the BCCI came up with a two-group format to keep the league games down to 14 per team. Despite the new format, the total number of games in the IPL 2022 was increased from 60 to 74 (70 league games + four knockout games). Therefore, the duration of the tournament was stretched well over two months.
