New format, player retention clause worry franchises

Franchises in the IPL believe that the league's new format and the player retention clause take away their control over their players and also affect their bottom lines. At least three IPL franchises say the new regulations devised by the BCCI are needlessly complicated.

"New IPL rules a bit confusing," Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan wrote on the micro-blogging website Twitter."Two new teams added (good). All players should go into pool to make it fair for everyone. Simple and straight."

The new rules governing player retention allow a team to keep up to four players but at a steep price. The first player retained will cost a team $1.8 million against the salary cap of $9 million, regardless of the amount the player is actually paid. The second player will cost $1.3 million, the third $900,000 and the fourth $500,000.

A team official told ESPNcricinfo, this rule suited a franchise only if it owned a player worth the $1.3m-1.8m bracket. "That person needs to win you at least five or six games and three IPL seasons have taught us that there is no one such player to be found." Using all four retention options will mean that a franchise will have only $4.5m to spend on 26 other players.

The handful of players who may come into the $1.8m bracket, an official said, would be big-ticket names like Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. A franchise official said the next group of players who could find themselves up for retention would be "Kieron Pollard, Suresh Raina and maybe Virender Sehwag but after that, I can't see anyone else".

The high cost of keeping a player effectively means most players will be part of November's auction. An official said, "Given the amount of money that you have to commit to retention, practically it will be difficult for teams to retain players".

While the schedule of 74 games ensures the franchises will play a minimum of 14 games, the same as in previous years, the addition of two new teams means each team gets a smaller share of the central revenue. "The business revenue models were calculated on the extra games," another team official said and thought that the new clauses had, for the franchises, made the IPL "a loss-making proposition".

The new rule under which all IPL player contracts can only be vetted by the BCCI has also come in for criticism with another franchise official saying, "This is a very player-centric rule and it benefits the player more than the franchise. So what leverage do franchises have with them?" The new rule had sent out a message from the BCCI to the franchises, "It is clear the BCCI understands that their biggest assets are the players and not the franchises."

With the players now out of their control, the only budgetary elements directly under the control of the franchises would be gate revenues, merchandising and sponsorships.