‘IPL opening ceremony a waste of money’, BCCI scraps curtain-raiser event: ReportAuto Draft

The Indian Premier League opening ceremony has been scrapped by the BCCI from the 2020 edition of the league, calling it a ‘waste of money’.

On an average, an Indian Premier League (IPL) opening ceremony would cost the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a reported sum of INR 30 crore. Since the start of the franchise-based cricket league in 2008, every edition of IPL has had an opening ceremony as the curtain-raiser event (barring the 2019 edition) where several stars from the world of entertainment would come to perform.

The BCCI, however, has now decided to do away with the ceremony, calling it a waste of money.

The decision was taken during a recent IPL governing council meeting on Monday, where several decisions regarding the forthcoming season were taken. The possibilities of having a special ‘no-ball umpire’, became the talk of the town in the cricketing spectrum but that wasn’t the only change that has been made.

A BCCI official, claimed that cricket fans don’t seem to be interested in the opening ceremony and the board has to spend a lot of money to get those actors to perform. All in all, the return of investment on the event no longer seems feasible.

“The opening ceremonies are a waste of money. The cricket fans don’t seem to be interested, and the performers have to be paid a lot.”

On the decision to have an exclusive no-ball umpire, the official said: “Last season, several players were given out and later recalled when replays showed the bowlers had overstepped. The idea is to reduce errors and controversies.”

The IPL opening ceremony was scrapped ahead of the start of the 2019 edition of the league too in the honour of those who had lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack.

Now, however, it seems like the board is done with the tradition completely.

The likes of Katy Perry, Akon, Pit Bull, Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and other stars from the world of Hollywood and Bollywood have performed in the IPL opening ceremony before.