BCB ponders revamped BPL
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is planning to revamp the trouble-hit Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) by reining it back into a realistic financial structure.
The so-called money-spinning tournament, designed like the Indian Premier League (IPL), was put on hold after completion of the second edition in February 2013 as it was beset by all kinds of off-field controversies ranging from non-payment of players to the spot-fixing scandal.
But it was successful as far as on-field affairs went, which is why the board is considering continuing with the venture as a quality T20 domestic tournament is the need of the hour.
“Unofficially we are working to revamp the tournament but we are actually waiting for the verdict of the anti-corruption tribunal. We are thinking of staging the third edition of the competition between November this year to January next year,” said BCB director IH Mallick, who is also a member secretary of the governing council of the BPL.
“We want to go with a new structure with a practical revenue projection. Previously the main problem lied with the wrong and impractical financial projection. The financial structure will be 30 to 40 per cent less than the previous ones because we have to go with our own market reality,” he added.
The question remained how the BCB will solve the previous financial issues and complications with Game On, the event management company, and the franchises.
“The board will get Tk 19 crore from Game On and they have gave us a cheque of Tk 10 crore. We already cashed Tk 2.50 crore and another Tk 2.50 crore we will get within the next three days and the rest of the money we will also receive accordingly. Regarding the remaining Tk 9 crore, they have some claims and we hope we can reach a settlement very soon,” informed Mallick.
“On the other hand almost all the franchises are defaulters and we already sent them termination letters. BCB paid 80 to 90 per cent of the players' payments. Still some of the foreign and local players have not yet been paid. But they (franchises) are interested to talk with the board and we want to keep the door open for them,” said Mallick.
“The board felt that we must continue with the tournament because we need it for reasons ranging from the financial aspect to the interest of the players and providing them the platform to gain experience in the shortest format of the game,” he continued.
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