What has changed in the 2020 IPL
As you all know the world has been turned upside down over the last few months as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. There is no country, person or event that has not been impacted by this terrible virus and the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League is no different.
The 2020 Indian Premier League was due to start in April of this year but due to growing concerns around the rising infections of coronavirus around the world and in India it was postponed. There was uncertainty on whether the tournament would even go ahead at all in 2020.
In October of this year the T20 World Cup was due to take place in Australia.The Australian government have opted to cancel this event in order to avoid large crowds coming to Australia and attending the event during the pandemic. As a result of the cancellation of the event the BCCI saw an opportunity to reschedule the IPL and take advantage of this new gap in the cricket sporting calendar. As a result the IPL is now to start on Saturday September 19th.
The BCCI still had to compromise on a number of things in order to ensure the IPL could safely take place. The main change is around the location of the event. As a result of a continued rise of coronavirus infections in India the IPL had to be relocated to UAE. The change of location to a region where there are lower levels of infections meant it would be a lot easier and safer to manage the tournament.
Although the tournament was relocated to a safer location it will still be held behind closed doors. This is to ensure that crowds don’t gather and social distancing can be easily maintained between teams, officials and staff.
Since fans can’t be in attendance it means the 2020 IPL will see record numbers of viewers tuning in to watch on their TVs. All the IPL games have been scheduled for primetime TV slots. This will mean a huge opportunity for companies to advertise during the events.
Betting on the IPL has grown in popularity over the last number of years. It is likely that this will continue during the 2020 season. Will the fact people can’t attend the event mean they have more time to gamble online while watching the games from the comfort of their own homes?
The 2020 IPL season also saw some new sponsorship deals being signed. Due to increasing tension between India and China the 5 year IPL sponsorship deal with VIVO was cancelled. This meant that the IPL spent the summer trying to negotiate with a new partner. This new partner ended up being Dream11 and they will act as the title sponsor for the 2020 IPL.
Although we are less than a day away from the start of the 13th edition of the IPL season there is still a lot of uncertainty about the event. A few weeks ago the Chennai Super Kings had to go into isolation as a result of a coronavirus outbreak among the team. The team has since recovered but it raises concerns about what to do if this happens once the season starts.
Although there has been a lot of change we are delighted to see the IPL season go ahead and bring some form of sporting normality back to our lives. The coronavirus pandemic is likely to be with us for the foreseeable so we need to adjust and find ways of living with the virus and still doing/watching the things we love most.
