Reports: IPL franchise owners propose running a parallel union alongside BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most valued and popular T20 cricket league in the world and is rated alongside the likes of NBA, NFL, and other team-based sports. Started in 2008 in order to cash in on the success of the Indian team in the 2007 T20 World Cup, the league has given us innumerable moments and have made some players insanely rich.

The 8 franchise owners met with BCCI in London in order to chart a map for the IPL 2020 and it has been proposed that BCCI is looking to add two more teams in the mix to increase the excitement. Mumbai Indians are the current IPL champions, who are in their fourth reign as titleholders, the most ever. But if reports are to be believed, IPL may face some tough competition coming from the owners of its teams.

Franchise owners mull over starting a league parallel to IPL

As per reports, a BCCI official revealed that a union for the existing eight franchise of the league is floating an idea to run a parallel administration alongside the BCCI. This idea was discussed in a meeting that was kept a secret from the board officials, who are fuming on being kept in the dark. The old administration is not happy with what is being discussed by the franchise owners.

”A franchise owner, who’s been associated with the IPL since inception “suggested” that all franchises of the league should get together a form a union “that will (act) as an administrative office for all (existing teams) and will independently deal with the ecosystem to address their concerns,” a source was quoted as saying by TOI.

It also suggested that the owners of Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings were not very happy with the idea and opposed it, while others remained neutral. “This is bordering on absurdity now. What’s worse is that it’s happening at a time when the BCCI administration is a very weak one and does not have any control over its own property,” sources told the daily.

“What we would like to know is if anybody in BCCI (present administration) had a clue of this. Whose idea was it to keep the league uninformed about such a meeting? When the right time comes, these questions will be brought up and everybody concerned will have to answer,” senior BCCI administrators were quoted as saying.

There have been many concerns raised by the owners, as BCCI has made very little change in the functioning of the league in the past 12 years. The last time BCCI included two more teams in the league was in 2011 when Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala featured in the tournament.