The lockdown enforced due to the Coronavirus outbreak has hit cricket financially. The Indian Premier League (IPL), the marquee T20 tournament, is in troubled waters as the window in which it was to be played has been blown away. The BCCI has also made it clear that the players won’t be paid if the cash-rich league is cancelled this year. As of now, the IPL has been postponed until further notice even as a truncated version of the league could be played later in the year.

In the IPL, not only the players but also the coaches across the world are involved and their payment also comes under the radar if the league is cancelled. The likes of Simon Katich, Mike Hesson, Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming among many others are involved with different franchises who have already done a lot of work behind the scenes ahead of the 2020 season. So will they be paid if the IPL doesn’t go ahead this year?

Unlike the players, the coaches are set to receive some compensation for their work. According to a report in Sportskeeda, the coaching and support staff of each team is entitled to a salary of Rs 8-10 crore for the work they’ve done since the auction days.

“The coaches’ salaries aren’t the issue. Those who have worked round the clock and franchisee workers are going to get their salaries. But the cricketers won’t make any money if the tournament gets cancelled,” a team official said. It has also been reported that most of the foreign cricketers and coaches had booked their flights to India in March but had to cancel their tickets following the closure of borders in most of the countries.

BCCI might suffer a huge loss if IPL is cancelled

Meanwhile, all the concerned stakeholders are set to suffer a huge loss in the event of IPL cancellation. This is the possible reasons why the BCCI is not ruling out the possibility of organising a truncated version after the normalcy resumes post the Coronavirus pandemic. While the franchises will incur losses as well, the main stakeholder, the BCCI will be at the receiving end in terms of huge losses.

“The teams will have a notional loss but BCCI could be incurring bigger losses if the insurance cover isn’t utilized. There are a lot of legalities, and BCCI won’t give up without a fight – like the rest of us,” the official further added.