Reports: BCCI paid Emirates Cricket Board INR 100 crore for hosting IPL 2020

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly paid UAE’s Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) a huge amount for the just-concluded IPL 2020. The ECB came to BCCI’s rescue during the pandemic and helped them conduct the IPL in the gulf country smoothly. At a time when the cases were increasing at an alarming rate in India, the IPL was in danger of being cancelled altogether.

The cancellation would have been a huge blow for the BCCI as they would have lost more than INR 400 crore in revenue. But thanks to the ECB, the BCCI overcame all the hurdles and managed to successfully conduct the tournament in the UAE. Not a single individual was tested positive for COVID-19 after the tournament started on September 19.

Before the start of the tournament, 13 members of Chennai Super Kings were tested positive but that was it. After that, the tournament went ahead without any interruption. IPL 2020 came to an end last week with the final between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in Dubai. Mumbai Indians beat Delhi by five wickets to retain their title.

BCCI pays ECB a huge amount

According to Bangalore Mirror, the BCCI has paid ECB INR 100 crore bonanza for IPL 2020. The report stated that the BCCI paid a whopping 14 million dollars to stage the tournament in Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi. The amount, however, sounded credible considering the staging associations in India would have earned Rs 60 crore for the 60 games.

According to the new rules, the state association would get Rs 1 crore for hosting one IPL game. The BCCI recently increased the hosting fee for a franchise for each match from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. As per the rules, the board was to match the amount paid by the franchises, thus enabling a state association to earn Rs 1 crore per game.

The Rs 100 crore fee was not the only financial boost received by the UAE. Apart from it, the IPL also immensely added to the UAE business, with 14 five-star hotels almost packed for three months. The IPL provided a windfall for UAE.