Hospitality and Publicity Likely to Face Big Cuts in IPL 2020 Due to Coronavirus Pandemic

The BCCI announcing that they will look to host the IPL this year itself is good news for the board and broadcasters, but due to the situation in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, franchises maybe forced into very different expense plans this season.

With games behind closed doors not too many are confident about a change in recent months.

Ticket sales from seven home games amount to around Rs 15-Rs 25 crore, depending on venue capacity. This is a source of income for the franchises which will dry up completely, considering that fans in stands is not a likely scenario anywhere at the moment. On an average, a franchise earns around Rs 30-Rs 40 crore from sponsorship in a season. But, according to a report in New Indian Express, there is no chance of franchises suffering losses this season.

All the franchises are definitely earning Rs 220 crore each from media rights and the annual average operational cost including everything for an IPL franchise is around Rs 120-Rs 140 crore.

However, the franchises do have player salaries, travel and hotel costs to look into which means they will are also looking cut costs and marketing is among those departments that are likely to bear the brunt.

“Our annual publicity and marketing budget is Rs 8-Rs 10 crore. Since we can’t save on fees of players, hotel and travel, we are thinking of cutting down on the marketing front. It’s possible that we will go slow this season and not have publicity programmes. Other than zero from ticket sales, we are not sure if our sponsors will stick to their commitments in the aftermath of the pandemic which has affected economic activities,” said a franchise official said.

“Those involved directly with our operations may not be affected, but we employ people indirectly during the IPL. It’s an area we have to review if the gross income goes down. Cost-cutting can affect hospitality also. Certain things may have to be scaled down,” added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Delhi Capitals director Mustafa Ghouse thinks along similar lines, without looking too far ahead. “A large part of marketing is attracting fans to the stadium. If that’s not an element, there is scope on that front (of cutting cost), but it’s difficult to say how exactly it’s going to be until we have clarity on how the IPL is going to happen.”