A big lesson for BCCI if IPL 2020 gets cancelled as Wimbledon is set to get $141 million as pandemic insurance cover

The Coronavirus pandemic has led to the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) being deferred until April 15. Rather with no improvement in the situation despite the lockdown in the country, there are chances that the IPL might not happen altogether this year. However, this would mean that the BCCI will suffer a huge loss and moreover, the board is now lamenting the fact that it had not insured IPL against the pandemic emergency like COVID-19.

Almost all the sporting events have either been postponed or cancelled due to the Coronavirus crisis. One of the premier Tennis championships, Wimbledon is the one which has also been cancelled this year. But unlike the IPL, the organisers of the Tennis tournament will be getting a huge amount of $141 million. Wimbledon organisers had been paying $2 million per year for the last 17-odd years for pandemic insurance and it will be helping them now.

On the other hand, the sources have confirmed that BCCI had insured the IPL only against the war and terrorism according to India Today. Interestingly, in some of the meetings, the pandemic insurance was only discussed and many felt it isn’t a real possibility.

This is the reason when the BCCI will be staring at a huge loss in case the IPL gets cancelled this year whereas the Wimbledon will be making a significant amount of money for its extensive planning.

BCCI likely to change its policy

The report further added that the BCCI is now likely to change its policies now and take stock of all the possible calamities. They want to be prepared for any kind of eventuality in the future and will be bare the upfront expenditure. Moreover, the host broadcaster, Star India, will suffer a direct loss of Rs 3269.50 crore if the IPL 2020 season is cancelled.

Add to this that they had already suffered a loss of Rs 1216 crore during the last financial year with the expenses to stage the cash-rich league sky-rocketing to Rs 4000 crore. The BCCI had sold the title sponsorship to VIVO for Rs 2000 crore for a period of five years and in an event of cancellation, the board is set to lose Rs 400 crore too.

Moreover, central sponsorship loss of Rs 200 crore and the combined loss mounts up to a staggering Rs 3869.5 crore.