BackIPL venue to be declared after 5 March: BCCI
BCCI will name the venue after the announcement of dates for the forthcoming general election
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New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will name the venue for the seventh edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) only after 5 March following the announcement of dates for the forthcoming general election, IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal said on Friday.
“We will take a call on the venue only after the election dates are announced because we want to host the tournament partly in India," Biswal said after a meeting of the BCCI working committee in Bhubaneswar.
BCCI has been forced to consider an overseas venue for the IPL for a second time since the inception of the tournament because of a clash of dates with general elections and the Indian government’s inability to provide security cover for the matches.
South Africa, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates are being considered this time round for staging the tournament expected to start on 9 April and run to 3 June.
The cash-rich tournament was last played abroad in 2009, another election year, and for the same reason—the government’s inability to divert security forces from election duty.
While the change in venue is expected to bring down gate receipts from matches that would have been played in India, it may not have much of an impact of television viewership.
Dhruv Jha, general manager, IPG Mediabrands, a media agency network said revenue from ticket sales could be halved because of the change of venue.
“If 50% of the matches are held outside it will hit the revenue from ticket sales by the same margin," Jha said. “The host country will only generate a minuscule amount of revenue as compared to the home country, or even city in this case. All associated partners will have to tweak their strategy in terms of reaching out to the India fan base."
“Our clients have expressed all kinds of reservations about the property until the venue gets decided." added Jha.
The inaugural season of IPL in 2008 garnered 5.59 television rating points (TRPs). When the second edition moved to South Africa, TRPs dropped to 4.84. They recovered a bit in 2010 when the tournament returned to India.
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