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ShareMumbai: Is Chennai Super Kings team opposing the expansion of the Indian Premier League (IPL)? It seems so if one were to go by sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India and IPL.
On Monday, the IPL said seven out of eight franchisees are in favour of an expansion. It did not name the dissenting franchisee but an IPL official said that the resistance was from Chennai. One out of eight is a miniscule number but in this case it is a significant number. The Chennai Super Kings' opposition cannot easily be brushed aside as the team belongs to BCCI secretary N Srinivasan.
"A discussion for the addition of two new franchises in Season 4 was held with the same being adopted with 7 of the 8 franchises being in favour of increasing the number of teams to 10," the IPL, which conducted a workshop for the franchisees in Bangkok recently, said in release on Monday.
But sources in the Board say the final decision on the expansion will be made by the BCCI and not the governing council of the IPL. Neither Srinivasan nor the IPL chairman Lalit Modi could be contacted, but the Board officials say there has been a debate over the expansion plans. An official, who is part of both the BCCI and the IPL set-ups, says the debate is whether they can reject the money that would come to the Board coffers with the expansion.
If the IPL were to be expanded, then there will be 10 teams with 94 matches. Currently there are 59 matches. "We're discussing if 94 is too big a number," said another BCCI official. "It could be too much of a burden on the cricketers."
But the flipside of the argument has been that the expansion will double the money that is accrued from the IPL currently. The creation of new teams will bring at least $500 million. Currently the eight franchisees are paying about $770 million over 10 years. That apart, there will be money from the television revenue as well. "The money can be used for the development of the infrastructure," said an official who is in favour of expansion.
Meanwhile, the IPL has asked the Pakistan players to obtain an NoC from their board and government before November 20 if they are to take part in the IPL III. A trading window will be open from November 23 to January 5. A player auction, with a spend cap of $750,000, will be held on January 19. Among other decisions, the IPL has decided to allow four fielding substitutions instead of a 12th man.
