BCCI to discuss player retentions, salary cap in meeting with IPL owners at month-end

The all-important meeting between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials and the Indian Premier League (IPL) team owners will be held towards the end of this month. According to IPL insiders, the BCCI has asked the franchise owners to be available for a meeting, likely on July 30 or 31, however, the exact date is yet to be confirmed.

The meeting is expected to be held at the BCCI office in Mumbai. Generally, such meetings are held in a five-star hotel, but the BCCI wants to host the owners in their newly renovated office inside the Wankhede Stadium complex.

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The primary agenda of the highly-anticipated meeting will be the important issue of player retentions. There have been different opinions on the number of retentions that should be allowed for a franchise. While some are of the opinion that continuity should be prioritised as most teams have been in existence for the last 17 years, others feel that shuffling things around would enhance the fascination around the cash-rich league. There have been suggestions of allowing as many as eight retentions per team.

One school of thought is to emphasise fan engagement and brand building by allowing teams to retain players who have become their faces over the years. However, there are arguments against this as well, as some franchises have informed the BCCI that the number of retentions should be minimal.

There is also a debate whether to bring back the Right to Match (RTM) cards at the mega-auction. As recently reported by Cricbuzz, the BCCI has acquired opinions from the 10 franchises on the vital issues. IPL CEO Hemang Amin met with representatives of the teams, either by visiting their headquarters in different cities or by calling them to the BCCI office earlier this month.

The salary cap, which is expected to be around INR 120 crore in the first year of the next three-year cycle, is also going to be discussed in the meeting. Also, the retention value of each player might be discussed. Previously, the salary of the top retention was around 16-17 percent of the salary cap (INR 15 crore in a salary cap of INR 90 crore).

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If it is decided that the previous model will be continued, the salary of the top retained player this time could be around or slightly over INR 20 crore. However, this isn't concrete as of now. The BCCI is expected to explain the formula for calculating the salary of the retained players.