One franchise owner told ET that Pune would be a backup.
“The BCCI informed us that they intend to host IPL 2022 in Mumbai without any spectators in the stadiums. Plan B was South Africa and the UAE, but all the franchise owners were also in favour of hosting it in India,” he said after a meeting between the board and team owners.
“I am delighted to confirm that the 15th season of the IPL will start in the last week of March and will run until May end,” said BCCI honorary secretary Jay Shah following the meeting. The board had given two tentative start options – March 27 and April 2.
Shah added that a majority of team owners wanted the tournament to be held in India.
“The BCCI was always keen on staging the 2022 edition that will see two new teams, Ahmedabad and Lucknow, in India,” he said. “I can tell you that we will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the IPL stays in India. The BCCI has not compromised on the health and safety of its stakeholders in the past and will concurrently work on Plan B since the Covid-19 situation with new variants remains fluid.”
The IPL player auction will take place on February 12-13 in Bengaluru and Shah said the board will lock in venues before that.
Due to the second wave of Covid-19, the BCCI had to suspend the IPL midway last year and resume it in the UAE in September.
“Hosting the league in the UAE or South Africa is a very costly affair for the teams as well as the board,” said the team owner cited above. “Moreover, the advertisers and sponsors also don’t see the same value as many of them don’t have operations outside India. While not being able to host fans is going to impact gate revenues, it’s still better than moving everything overseas.”
The 15th edition of the cash-rich league will see the Tata Group as the title sponsor for the first time. ET had earlier reported that the Tata Group had agreed to take over the rights from Chinese handset maker
, which wanted to exit from its five-year contract until 2023.
