IPL slashes prize money in cost-cutting drive

Mumbai Indians players celebrate with the trophy after winning the 2019 IPL T20 final. - AFP

India's cricket board has slashed the prize money by half for the winners and runners-up of this year's IPL, the world's most popular and successful T20 league.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said the move was part of measures to cut the costs of the glitzy Indian Premier League, starting March 29, which attracts top players from around the world.
Indian media reports said the board was also doing away with the opening ceremony, usually an extravagant affair with top Bollywood celebrities crooning and dancing before thousands of cheering fans.
"The financial rewards have been reworked as a part of the cost-cutting measures," the BCCI said in a circular sent to the franchises.
As a result, the champions will get $1.36 million instead of $2.72 million. The prize money for the runners-up has also been halved.
"The franchises are all in good health. They also have multiple ways like sponsorships to bolster their income. Hence the decision on prize money taken," the Press Trust of India quoted a senior BCCI source.
Each of the eight franchises will also have to shell out $68,119 to the state association for each game it hosts, up from $27,197. The moves have not gone down well with some of the franchise owners, the Times of India said.
The IPL has been hailed as a commercial success since its debut in 2008, and has inspired similar Twenty20 leagues in other countries.
It has also triggered a debate over whether players were giving preference to clubs ahead of their countries, given the large paydays on offer.
Australia's Pat Cummins went for $2.17 million in this year's IPL auction. Players keep about 75 percent of their auction price - effectively their salary for the two-month season. In 2017, Star India paid about $2.5 billion for five years of broadcast rights, the biggest TV deal seen in cricket.
Meanwhile, speaking to IANS, a BCCI official said that the financial restructuring that was done under the Committee of Administrators is one of the major reasons why the board has now been forced to relook the finances and take tough calls.
"This is an outcome of the COA's handling of the BCCI where the BCCI money was being spent indiscriminately without a care in the world about the processes, only to look good in the eyes of certain sections of the public. The CFO seemed to be working in the best interest of the Tax Department rather than in the interest of the BCCI, the organisation he was supposed to act on behalf of.
"Why else would they need to get a protection order from the Hon'ble Court preventing them BCCI from going into their decisions? This is a direct result of that so the present dispensation cannot be blamed at all for this," the official explained.
In fact, it is believed that BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and team's efforts to increase the fee of domestic players also hit a roadblock because of the heavy taxes that the board is having to pay due to certain 'financial' failures on the part of the CoA.
When contacted an official of one of the IPL-winning franchises said that it didn't mean much to the franchise as they had anyway distributed the prize money among the players and support staff, but franchises do have the right to check on it with the board.
"See, the amount isn't a concern for us as we have in the past handed the full sum of money to the players and support staff. Maybe some of the other franchises might bring this up in the next round of meetings with the IPL Governing Council," the official said. -