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Twist in teams vs BCCI, Star Sports saga over newly-proposed IPL 2018 match timings?

Broadcasters Star Sports have floated an idea of pushing 4 PM matches to 5.30 and reschedule 8 PM games to 7 PM start.

Mumbai: A couple of days after it emerged that Indian Premier League (IPL) sides are at war with Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and broadcasters Star Sports over the IPL Governing Council (IPL GC) approved changed match-timings, it is now learnt that the BCCI, on Friday, will meet the IPL franchises to discuss the proposed change of start of match-timings on the day of double-headers.

Traditionally, when there had been two matches on a day, IPL had gone ahead with 4 PM and 8 PM starts. However, this time around, Star Sports have floated the idea of pushing 4 PM starts to 5.30 PM and rescheduling start of 8 PM matches to 7 PM to attain the maximum viewership.

Read: IPL 2018: Teams vs BCCI and Star Sports over newly-proposed match timings

IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla had stated that the IPL GC had approved the idea of change in match-timings.

“The broadcaster has requested for change in timings. By and large the GC has accepted it. It gets too late in the night if the game starts at 8pm," said Shukla after the IPL Governing Council meeting in New Delhi on Monday.

Read: IPL 2018 to run from April 7-May 27, change of timings announced

However, it was later reported that the teams were clearly not happy with the idea.

"The franchises are not in agreement with this proposal and will take it up with the IPL. They are in fact quite not very happy that something as important as this hasn't even discussed with them," sources, who are familiar with the developments, were quoted as saying by Times of India.

Following these developments, it has now to come light that the Indian cricket board will meet the officials of the IPL team to discuss the matter.

“The governing council will discuss the proposal in detail with all the franchises on Friday before taking a final call,” a source privy to the developments told Sportstarlive.

The teams are not really keen on the overlapping of the games, but sponsorers could face the damage in terms of revenues.

“The sponsorship deals for all the logos on our jersey are primarily based on the estimated TV viewership for the whole duration of the match. An overlap would into that aspect in a big way, especially since the double-headers are slotted over weekends and public holidays,” one of the team officials said on the condition of anonymity.

“I hope the franchises unite on this front on Friday and the BCCI takes our opinion into consideration before it makes up its mind,” concluded the said official.

It is also learnt that not just the IPL teams but also a section in BCCI is not really in favour of change in match-timings.

Read: Indian Premier League 2018: Rajasthan Royals slam BCCI on player auction, retention

A BCCI official said, “The central sponsorship agreements are usually based on calculations revolving an uninterrupted telecast of seven hours over the weekend. However, in the proposed system, the total duration of the broadcast may come down to five hours, which may fetch BCCI lower sums.”

( Source : deccan chronicle )
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