Modi slams IPL scheduling

Lalit Modi has reopened an old IPL argument by pointing at something deceptively simple: the fixture list. In an interview published on April 5, he said the BCCI has failed to deliver the full home-and-away structure that franchises were effectively sold, and that the gap is costing teams and the league itself a huge amount of money. Sportstar reported his estimate at nearly ₹2,400 crore in unrealised value. (sportstar.thehindu.com) That complaint lands because the IPL is no longer a young league improvising its way through growth. It is a mature sports business that just saw Royal Challengers Bengaluru draw a lead bid of about $1.78 billion and Rajasthan Royals change hands at about $1.63 billion. Modi’s point is that those eye-popping prices still understate what these clubs could be worth if every team actually got the full set of home dates that make local sponsorships, hospitality, ticketing, and city-based fan engagement work at full strength. (sportstar.thehindu.com) The math behind the grievance is straightforward. With 10 teams, a true double round-robin means every team plays every other team twice, once at home and once away. That requires 90 league matches, before the playoffs. The IPL has not done that. The 2026 season was announced with 84 league matches, not 90, and the broader plan discussed by IPL chairman Arun Dhumal has been to move to a 94-match season only in the next media-rights cycle from 2028, which would finally allow a complete home-and-away league stage plus playoffs. (sportstar.thehindu.com) That gap between 84 and 90 is not cosmetic. Each missing home game strips a franchise of one more night to sell premium seats, activate sponsors, host corporate partners, move merchandise, and keep its stadium visible in its own market. Modi’s criticism is really about the difference between a central media property and a proper club business. The BCCI can still sell the league as a national spectacle. A franchise cannot monetise a home crowd that never gets a match. (sportstar.thehindu.com) This is also why scheduling delays matter more than they seem. Before the 2026 season, the BCCI delayed the fixture announcement because assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Assam complicated venue security and planning. Sportstar reported that franchises were left waiting on travel, operations, and venue arrangements, with the schedule expected in phases. That uncertainty is manageable for a tournament office. It is much more expensive for teams trying to lock in staffing, logistics, local marketing, and sponsor commitments around specific dates. (sportstar.thehindu.com) The league has already shown how messy that can get. Rajasthan Royals began the season in Guwahati while venue questions around Jaipur dragged on. Royal Challengers Bengaluru needed clearance before it could confirm where all its home games would be played. Even when those issues are eventually solved, they shorten the runway for the people who actually have to fill the seats and sell the inventory. (sportstar.thehindu.com) Modi’s larger claim is that the IPL was supposed to be built more like a league of franchises with real control and durable local value, not just a tournament run from the top. Whatever one makes of his self-serving nostalgia, the current structure gives his complaint force. The BCCI sold media rights for the 2023-2027 cycle for ₹48,390.32 crore, with match volumes that were expected to rise across the cycle. But in 2026, the league is still operating short of the clean home-and-away model that would make each franchise’s economics more legible and more valuable. (bcci.tv) And the schedule itself makes the point visible. The official 2026 fixture list still carries a warning that dates remain subject to change at the BCCI’s sole discretion. (scores.iplt20.com)