IPL franchises request BCCI to play their off-season matches in US, Canada and Singapore

Indian Premier League 2020 is just a month and 10 days away from its commencement. And, the franchises are busy in the preparations for the same. Some are even planning to play their off-season games abroad and they have put forward suggestions regarding the same in front of BCCI. However, there are still no updates from the cricket board over it.

IPL came into picture back in 2008 that has changed the face of cricket across the globe. It has churned out some amazingly talented cricketers, who are currently playing for their national side. On the other hand, the cash-rich league has attracted a huge following towards it. And now, BCCI is planning to expand it in different ways like by extending the length of the tournament and teams.

With the 13th season on the line, there are reports that Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians have shown their interest on playing in abroad in the playoff stage of the tournament. However, BCCI didn’t take those suggestions officially as a part of their discussion.

RCB, RR and MI propose to play abroad

There was one of the owners who explained that playing IPL in abroad countries will help the league in gaining popularity in the countries where cricket is not that popular. As per an executive, it is going to be a win-win situation for BCCI as they will get a 20% share of the franchise’s earnings. Moreover, there is no rule as such due to which any franchise can step back from playing the off-season games in other countries like Canada, Singapore and the US.

“Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals — they’ve all shown interest in playing abroad during the off-season (when IPL is not on). The BCCI refuses to even take it up officially, despite the GC discussing it in the recent past,” as per the reports of TOI.

“It will only help the IPL grow outside of India, especially in the USA, Canada, Singapore and other non-cricketing countries. We can understand that playing in full-member countries is not possible, but why not otherwise?” the owner said.

Why not further the business plan and help franchises become international brands? It’s a win-win,” an executive of another franchise revealed.

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