IPL 2021: The 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League will kickstart from April 9 and fans just can’t wait for the much-awaited league to begin. The tournament will go on till May 30 across six cities with none of the eight teams getting to play at home.
Despite, COVID-19 surge, Mumbai has been named as one of the cities to host IPL 2021. The other cities that will host the tournament are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, and Kolkata. The final of IPL 2021 will take place in the newly renovated Narendra Modi Stadium on May 30. However, none of the teams will get to play at home.
If this wasn’t enough, the fans have received another blow ahead of the tournament after IPL’s Governing Council announced that there will be no spectators for IPL 2021.
This will be the second year in the row that tickets sale as source revenue for the franchises will be completely wiped out. Speaking about the same, CSK’s CEO Kashi Viswanathan said:
“Yes, after last year’s loss, we are a bit worried about this year’s revenue loss as well. I would say the loss could be around Rs 25 crore. But more than that we are going to lose our fans. That’s our biggest concern,”
Brijesh Patel, the IPL Governing Council Chairman also talked confirmed the news about no spectators being allowed for IPL 2021. He said:
“Yes, I can confirm that there will be no spectators allowed for this season. Not for a single match. We will have a Governing Council meeting in the next two days to ratify these decisions. The decision to take Mumbai as a venue was difficult. But we believe things will improve. But we are keeping our options open (to opt for a replacement venue in case the situation goes out of hand,”
The franchises now fear losing Rs. 25 to 30 crore each. The decision of not having spectators will be impacting the franchises in a big manner. Not just the franchises will lose on the direct ticket sales revenue, but the impact will also be felt in the sponsorship tie-ups, which teams are weaving for IPL 2021.
However, teams are still hoping that the situation might get better and BCCI may allow fans in the stadium. Punjab Kings CEO Satish Menon said:
“We are still discussing with IPL and BCCI to find a solution. We hope and pray things get normal and some spectators are allowed in the later stage. We had spectators in the Test matches as well. So lets see, things might change. So putting a figure at this stage will be premature.”
