“We thought about it, but it would be exhausting from the logistical point of view. A majority of the players would have to return to England in June first week for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup,” said Lalit Modi, IPL Chairman and Commissioner.
Detailing the logistical aspect of the 45-day event, Mr. Modi said the IPL would centrally deal with it.
“It’s a challenge. We are looking at multiple cities in multiple countries. The grounds in the overseas country, the hotels and the movement of the teams would be handled by the IPL directly.
“Last year, the eight owners were responsible for this. We have resolved the broadcaster issue and the matches would be shown live to suit the Indian audience, that is the first match at 4 p.m. and the second one at prime time 8 p.m.,” said Mr. Modi.
“It’s prohibitively expensive to take the tournament out of India. We have tried over 100 itineraries and unfortunately because of the elections, we feel sorry for the fans.
“The franchise owners have the option to take any number of players. But we will try to limit the number of players they can take. The IPL has announced the squads with no Pakistan players in it. There will be no change in the squads and the Pakistan players will not be allowed.”
When asked about the likely increased costs, Mr. Modi said: “The cost and revenue model is of no concern to the IPL.
“Revenue is not the issue, it’s the integrity of the tournament. The issue is that a high-quality tournament is delivered to the full at the right time to the Indian and world television audience.
“The BCCI president has told the IPL not to cut corners. We have an event of world standards that can be played anywhere in the world. It will remain an IPL, but held in another country only this year. We don’t want to blame anyone. There are real issues that the government was concerned with, but we want continuity of the league,” Mr. Modi said.
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