BCCI panel leans towards retaining suspended IPL franchises

The BCCI working group is leaning towards recommending that the two suspended IPL franchises, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, be run under new management for the next two years as a stop-gap arrangement. The group, formed after the Lodha panel suspended these two franchises for two years, is against replacing them with new teams unless there are compelling financial reasons. The option of outright termination, ESPNcricinfo learnt, is not even on the table.

According to a working group member, running the franchises under a new independent management is safest option at the moment, though he conceded that the alternative of inviting bids for two new teams and putting the players of Super Kings and Royals in the auction could be the most "logical" option. The majority of the working group members felt inviting bids for new teams would only complicate matters further, as the IPL would then become a 10-team event from 2018. Considering the broadcasting rights for the IPL expire at the end of the 2017 edition, the BCCI is wary of any legal implications of the including two new teams at this stage.

"No doubt our immediate priority is to ensure smooth conduct of IPL 2016. But we also need to keep future in mind," the working group member said. "Most stakeholders expressed that the IPL model works best with eight teams. But if the BCCI finances are going to take a major hit with the other options, we will be left with no option but to float tenders for adding two teams for a longer duration."

During the last IPL governing council meeting, held on July 13, one of the BCCI members had suggested involving leading financial solution firms in the running of the two franchises on board's behalf. A former cricketer on the governing council had then mentioned that big names like Rahul Dravid (Royals' mentor) and MS Dhoni (Super Kings' captain) are capable of running teams, if required, instead of calling on an outsider. BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, who is part of the working group, had rejected these suggestions, saying it would lead to a direct conflict of interest. So that leaves the option of inviting neutral organisations to independently run the teams. The working group will meet one last time before submitting its recommendations to the BCCI working committee on August 28, and is likely to discuss this option at that meeting.

The legalities of retaining the franchises in a different avatar are still not clear. According to a BCCI official privy to the discussions of the working group, the group was deliberating on what would be the "least disruptive" way to pass the ownership to the new management. "What they are unsure about is whether to invite new owners for these two teams for two years or just run the two teams under some other management system," the official said. "Can we run these two teams, with the same set of players, under the different names and some different management? So the brand remains suspended and the existing management of the franchises will have no role to play in running the teams."