The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is working on a plan to expand the Indian Premier League from 74 matches to 94 matches from the 2028 season.
IPL chairman Arun Dhumal has said that the long-term goal is to move to a full home-and-away league, while keeping the number of teams fixed at 10.
According to Dhumal, this expansion is linked to the next media rights cycle and will depend on getting a longer official window for the IPL in the international calendar after 2027.
He has also made it clear that the discussions are already happening both inside the BCCI and at ICC level.
How the IPL format works today
Right now, the IPL has 10 teams and 74 matches in a season.
The league uses a “virtual group” system where each team plays five opponents twice and four opponents only once in the league stage.
This structure allows every side to play 14 league matches before the playoffs, without stretching the two-month window too much.
Four knockout games then complete the schedule: Qualifier 1, Eliminator, Qualifier 2, and the final.
What a 94-match IPL would look like
Under the plan discussed by the BCCI, a 94-match IPL would be built on a simple full home-and-away format.
In that system, every team would face every other team twice, once at home and once away.
With 10 teams, this means each franchise would play 18 league matches instead of the current 14.
The total number of league games would rise sharply, and the playoffs would sit on top of that, taking the season tally to 94 fixtures.
Dhumal has called this “the ideal situation” for the league because it gives all teams an equal number of home and away matches against every opponent.
It would also remove the confusion that can come from the virtual group system, where some match-ups happen twice and others only once.
Expansion plan was built into media rights
The idea of more matches is not new; it was a part of the IPL’s 2023–2027 media rights plan from the beginning.
When the BCCI sold IPL media rights for around INR 48,390 crore for this five-year cycle, the roadmap clearly spoke about a gradual rise in the number of games.
As per that blueprint, the schedule was supposed to look like this: 74 matches in 2023 and 2024, 84 matches in 2025 and 2026, and 94 matches from 2027.
However, the jump from 74 to 84 has not happened so far because of the packed international calendar and broadcaster concerns around too many double-headers.
Even though the roadmap has been delayed, the core idea of increasing matches and growing the league remains on the table.
The new talks around a 94-match season from 2028 are, in many ways, a fresh push to implement what was originally planned.
Why BCCI wants more games, not more teams
At one stage, there was open talk about adding more franchises after the current media rights cycle.
But now, Arun Dhumal has said clearly that the focus is not on introducing new teams, at least for the near future.
Dhumal has explained that, with the present set of 10 teams, the league can grow simply by increasing the number of matches.
He also said that adding more teams right now does not make sense because it would further stretch the talent pool and make scheduling even tougher.
Several reports also note that moving beyond 10 franchises would require a much larger window and a bigger shift in the international calendar.
For the moment, the BCCI prefers to keep the same number of teams and instead push towards a longer but more balanced league.
Need for a bigger IPL window after 2027
The main obstacle for a 94-match season is not interest or money, but time.
The ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) is locked until 2027, and during this period each country already has fixed bilateral series and ICC events.
At present, the IPL window runs roughly from mid-March to the end of May, giving the tournament around 60 to 65 days.
This window is just about enough to fit 74 matches, but it becomes very tight if the league has to move to 94 games without drastic changes to the schedule.
Dhumal has said that the BCCI will seek a bigger official slot for the IPL in the next FTP cycle, which starts after 2027.
He has also said that the board is already discussing these changes with other cricket boards and ICC members.
Reports suggest that the target is a two-and-a-half-month IPL window in the next FTP, which would reduce bilateral cricket in that period.
Such a window would give enough days to run a 94-match season without putting extreme pressure on players or broadcasters.
Double-headers and broadcaster concerns
One possible way to fit 94 matches into the current time frame would be to use many more double-headers, especially on weekends and even on weekdays.
However, broadcasters are not very keen on a schedule full of afternoon matches.
The main worry for them is that afternoon games split the television and digital audience and, in turn, can reduce advertising returns.
This is one reason why the planned move from 74 to 84 matches in 2025 and 2026 was held back.
With a larger official IPL window post-2027, the league would not need to rely as heavily on double-headers to reach 94 matches.
This balance between the number of games and the daily schedule is a key point in the talks between the BCCI and its media partners.
IPL’s growing commercial strength
The IPL has already become one of the most valuable cricket properties in the world.
In 2022, the BCCI sold IPL media rights for the 2023–2027 cycle for around INR 48,390 crore, placing the league among the top sports competitions globally in terms of per-match value.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah said at the time that this deal showed how far the league had come since its launch and that the board planned to use the money to improve domestic cricket and infrastructure.
The same media rights framework also included the plan to move towards 94 matches by the end of the cycle.
The current discussions about a 94-match season from 2028 are closely linked to this commercial growth.
More games mean more inventory for broadcasters and streaming platforms, which can lead to higher revenue if viewership remains strong.
Record digital numbers back expansion talk
The IPL’s digital reach has continued to climb in recent seasons, which supports the case for a larger tournament.
The opening match of IPL 2026 between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on JioCinema/JioHotstar broke previous viewership records.
Different reports place the view count for that match at above 426 million, with some citing around 434 million views.
This single game delivered more views than most matches of the 2026 T20 World Cup, underlining the strong pull of the IPL on digital platforms.
Such numbers have only strengthened the BCCI’s belief that there is space for more IPL matches during the year.
The board sees franchise T20 cricket as a major driver of audience and revenue in the modern game.
How IPL teams have grown over the years
Since its start in 2008, the IPL has seen several changes in the number of teams.
The league began with eight franchises and expanded to 10 teams in 2011, before dropping to nine and then returning to eight for a long stretch.
For many seasons from 2014 to 2021, the tournament settled at eight teams with a simple home-and-away format.
In 2022, the BCCI added two new franchises — Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants — and took the league back to 10 teams.
From 2022 onwards, the league has used the current 10-team, 74-match model with the virtual group system to stay within the available window.
The fresh talks about a 94-match season are the next major structural step after this 10-team expansion.
Planned versus actual matches in recent seasons
The original media rights roadmap and the actual number of games played show how scheduling limits have affected expansion.
Planned vs played IPL matches (2023–2027)
(based on media rights blueprint and current reports)
- 2023: 74 planned, 74 played.
- 2024: 74 planned, 74 played.
- 2025: 84 planned, but expansion delayed; 74 matches expected.
- 2026: 84 planned, but again 74 matches expected due to calendar pressure.
- 2027: 94 planned in the rights blueprint, but most reports now expect the schedule to stay closer to 74 matches.
These numbers show that the 94-match idea is not new, but its start has been pushed back by the tight FTP and broadcaster concerns.
The current target of 2028 is more realistic because the new ICC cycle begins after the present FTP ends.
Key role of ICC and other boards
Any major change to the IPL window will need support from ICC and other national boards.
Dhumal has said that the BCCI is already in talks at ICC meetings and with its “colleagues” from other countries.
Cricket boards across the world face the challenge of balancing bilateral series, ICC events, and growing franchise leagues.
For India, the IPL is now a central part of this balance, and its window is likely to be a major topic when the next FTP is drawn up.
If the BCCI can secure a longer, protected window, it will open the door to the 94-match format without clashing too much with international commitments.
This is why the upcoming ICC cycle is so important for the future structure of the league.
Summary of the 94-match IPL plan
To sum up, the BCCI’s roadmap for the IPL over the next few years is clear in broad strokes.
- The league aims to move from 74 matches to 94 matches from the 2028 season, linked to the next media rights cycle.
- The format would shift to a full home-and-away league, with each of the 10 teams playing every other side twice.
- The number of teams is expected to stay at 10 for the foreseeable future, with no new franchises planned at this stage.
- The expansion depends on securing a bigger IPL window in the ICC Future Tours Programme after 2027, to avoid too many double-headers and scheduling stress.
- Strong media rights values and record digital viewership have given the BCCI added confidence to push for this larger format.
These elements together show how the IPL is being shaped for the next decade, with the 94-match season at the heart of the BCCI’s long-term planning.
The post BCCI Confirms IPL Expansion Talks, 94-Match Season Likely From 2028 appeared first on Sportzcraazy.
from Cricket News & Updates | Today Cricket Rankings | Latest Match Schedule https://ift.tt/4rhSHoe
via IFTTT
0 Comments