BCCI Secretary Jay Shah has opened up on the possibility of addition of more Indian Premier League teams in the near future. Before IPL 2022, the BCCI added two new franchises to the competition, namely the Gujarat Titans and the Lucknow Super Giants.
Both franchises performed exceptionally well in their debut season. While the Titans went on to win the championship, the Super Giants finished third in the league points table. Looking at the excellent performance of the two new teams, fans are excited to know about the next expansion in terms of teams participating in the Indian Premier League.
In an interview with Cricbuzz, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said that the number of matches will increase, but the number of teams will remain the same for now. The question came up because of the media rights sale that helped BCCI secure a staggering deal from three different broadcasters. Here’s what Shah said:
“We have just had two new teams coming into the IPL fold and both were amazing. While Gujarat Titans won the title, Lucknow Super Giants made it to the playoffs. It was a tight contest to get to the playoffs. Expansion of the IPL in terms of teams depends on many factors and for now, the league will continue to have 10 teams.”
Jay Shah points out one major difference between IPL 2008 and 2022 media rights sale
During the same interview, the BCCI Secretary pointed out how back in 2008, there was no serious competition for the digital rights. In fact, IPL used to be streamed live on YouTube once upon a time, but now, the digital broadcasters shelled out crores of rupees to gain the digital rights.
Star Sports will continue to telecast matches of IPL from 2023 to 2027, while Viacom18 has earned the rights to live stream matches on its platform.
