During a recent interview, Modi highlighted that not hosting two home and two away matches for all ten franchises has resulted in a significant revenue shortfall for the BCCI. He added that all franchises are contractually entitled to home-and-away fixtures, a tradition disrupted after the addition of two new teams — the Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans — in 2022.
“For every game, the BCCI gets 50 per cent, and the remaining 50 per cent is distributed to the teams. Consequently, teams are now losing out on 20 games. It is a contractual obligation, given the fees they are paying, to provide them with home-and-away fixtures,” Modi told Sportstar.
While both Lucknow and Gujarat have quickly developed large fan bases, Modi believes expanding the league without preserving the home-and-away structure undermines the value proposition.
“The home-and-away format is where the value lies. If there is no space in the calendar, do not increase the number of teams. It is as simple as that. That is not what we sold. Has everybody signed off on this? I guarantee they have not. There are excuses, but it is a contractual obligation and a commercial transaction for the teams,” he explained.
Currently, the IPL hosts 74 matches each season, including 70 league-stage games and four playoff fixtures. Modi argued that following the traditional format with ten teams would have added 20 more matches, taking the total to 94 per season.
“If there were 94 matches today on a home-and-away basis at INR 118 crore per game, the media rights alone would be worth an extra INR 2,400 crore. That is INR 2,400 crore in additional revenue for the BCCI. Of this, INR 1,200 crore would have gone to the 10 teams, INR 120 crore each, and team values would automatically have been higher,” Modi added.
