CoA's handling of finance behind IPL prize money cut: BCCI official

Known to be the richest board in the world, the BCCI in a surprise move has decided to reduce the playoff prize money of its most followed tournament -- Indian Premier League. Considered the white elephant in the family, the T20 league has been the biggest money spinner for the board since its inception in 2008. But the board is looking to reduce the prize money by 50 per cent and as per BCCI officials the reason is the tax issues it is facing.

Speaking to IANS, a BCCI official said that the financial restructuring that was done under the Committee of Administrators is one of the major reasons why the board has now been forced to relook the finances and take tough calls.

"This is an outcome of the COA's handling of the BCCI where the BCCI money was being spent indiscriminately without a care in the world about the processes, only to look good in the eyes of certain sections of the public. The CFO seemed to be working in the best interest of the Tax Department rather than in the interest of the BCCI, the organisation he was supposed to act on behalf of.

"Why else would they need to get a protection order from the Hon'ble Court preventing them BCCI from going into their decisions? This is a direct result of that so the present dispensation cannot be blamed at all for this," the official explained.

In fact, it is believed that BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and team's efforts to increase the fee of domestic players also hit a roadblock because of the heavy taxes that the board is having to pay due to certain 'financial' failures on the part of the CoA.

Coming back to the IPL, as per the mail that has been sent to the eight franchises, the winner of the 2020 edition of the IPL will get Rs 10 crore, the runner-up team will get Rs 6.25 crore, and the third and the fourth placed teams will be handed Rs 4.375 crore each. In 2019, the winner was handed Rs 20 crore, the runner-up got Rs 12.5 crore while the third and fourth team was handed Rs 8.75 crore each.

When contacted an official of one of the IPL-winning franchises said that it didn't mean much to the franchise as they had anyway distributed the prize money among the players and support staff, but franchises do have the right to check on it with the board.

"See, the amount isn't a concern for us as we have in the past handed the full sum of money to the players and support staff. Maybe some of the other franchises might bring this up in the next round of meetings with the IPL Governing Council," the official told IANS. IANS