The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has hinted at raising the number of matches in the cash-rich league every season in the next IPL 2023-2027 cycle, ahead of the e-auction for the new media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
According to early predictions, the total number of editions will be 410, with a progressive rise after every two editions. The Indian cricket board is expected to schedule 74 games in the first two years of the cycle – 2023 and 2024 – followed by 84 games in the following two seasons.
It might be 94 games in the fifth and final season of the cycle, while the BCCI has left the option of 84 games open as well.
According to a Cricbuzz report, bidders for the media rights were instructed to use the 410-game computation rather than the 370-game calculation.
If this idea is adopted, it will be fascinating to watch how the BCCI/IPL divides the number of games played by each team such that the necessary numbers of 84 and 94 are correctly tallied up. In the case of 94 games, it’s likely that each side will play twice, home and away — the normal format — before the four play-offs.
The league is now organized into two virtual groups of five teams, with each team playing twice against four other teams in its group, once against four other teams in the other group, and twice against the remaining one team. When postseason matchups are taken into account, the total rises to 74. In the instance of 84, the formula may involve playing twice against each of one’s own group’s sides, twice against two of the other group’s sides, and once against the remaining three.
According to the source, when the number of games for the Special non-exclusive Package (C) increases in future seasons, there will be no uncertainty in the number of games available.
It was previously claimed that the special package will contain 18 matches in a 74-game season. Also, for an 84-game season, there will be 20 games and for a 94-game season, there will be 22 games.
In all, 96 games will be played in Package C during the next five years, including the season opener, four playoff games, and the night matches of doubleheaders.
