IPL 2020: BCCI scraps reportedly exorbitant IPL opening ceremony

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the biggest franchise-based T20 tournament in the world. Every year, the opening ceremony of the league is exhilarating with performances of artists from across the globe. But now in a major development, the BCCI has reportedly decided to scrap the IPL opening ceremony which had previously cost them around Rs 30 crore.

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Opening ceremonies a 'waste of money': BCCI official

According to a leading media network, this was one of the key decisions taken during the IPL governing council meeting on Monday. Speaking to the network, the BCCI official said that the opening ceremonies were a waste of money as the cricket fans didn’t seem to be interested and the performers had to be paid a lot.

A number of Bollywood celebrities and international pop stars, like Katy Perry, Akon and Pit Bull have performed at IPL opening ceremonies amid glaring fireworks and laser shows.

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In the meeting, several decisions regarding the upcoming season were taken. The possibilities of having a special 'no-ball umpire', became the talk of the town in the cricketing community. On the 'no-ball umpire' decision, the official said that last season several players were given out and later recalled when replays showed the bowlers had overstepped. The idea was to reduce errors and controversies.

The IPL opening ceremony of 2019 edition was scrapped to honour those who had lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack. However, now it seems like the board has taken a final call to scrap the ceremony once and for all.

The auction is set to take place on December 19 and the preparations for the showpiece event have already started. The IPL is likely to start from April 1 and could end by May 30. However, the thing to watch out for will be whether BCCI keeps a 15-day window between the end of IPL and India’s next assignment. After taking over the reign, this is the first time that the new committee will manage the operations related to the IPL.

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