Commercially viable to play the IPL in empty stadiums: Simon Katich
After the Government of India announced the second phase of he nation-wide lockdown on 14 April which would last up to 3rd May, the BCCI announced on Thursday that the IPL 2020 was suspended indefinitely.
The newly-appointed head coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Simon Katich, has 'no doubt' that the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be played later this year and he is open to the concept of IPL 2020 being played abroad as cricket boards of different nations are keen to host the cash-rich tournament.
“Whether it would be in Australia [or elsewhere], that’s an interesting topic of conversation,” he told SEN Radio.
“There would be a few teams – us in particular at RCB, we’d be very happy for it to be played abroad, because a number of our overseas players are Australian and South African, who really would enjoy these conditions in Australia. It would be interesting to see if that would eventuate but obviously, it’s one of many scenarios that’s being discussed,” Simon Katich added.
IPL is the biggest T20 tournament in the world, says Simon Katich
“It’s obviously the biggest T20 tournament in the world and the people there love their cricket,” Simon said.
“But I think they’re also realistic to know that they have to sit tight and wait like everyone else in the world and ride this out however long that takes. There is a huge economic side to this in terms of what the IPL generates, not only for the Indian economy but also for the franchises as well, and for the BCCI. I guess the thing that has to be weighed up is, there’s probably a little bit of a difference in terms of the IPL because of the amount of eyeballs that are on the IPL in India when it’s on in April and May, it is a scenario where it is potentially still very commercially viable being played with empty stadiums, so that’s something no doubt they’ll be weighing up,” Simon said.
“In the past there’s been talk of rating figures of 80 million people watching games. At the same time, there’s obviously a lot of health regulations that need to be followed to make sure that no-one’s endangered, whether that’s the public or the players and support staff,” Simon added.
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