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Tamim Iqbal-led Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is not willing to continue the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), at least for now, because the nation's only franchise league has incurred losses of around 40 Crore in Bangladeshi currency. The league will resume only after solving the financial issues.
BCB president Tamim Iqbal on Thursday, during a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, informed that they are not interested in hosting the Bangladesh Premier League this year. When they host the franchise league again, that too remains uncertain, as BCB's priority is to address the tournament's financial difficulties.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) put the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) on hold because of heavy financial losses
Tamim Iqbal made it clear that they will not run the tournament with the financial issues. The financial losses of around 40 Crore BDT are a real problem for the cricket board. The heavy amount of losses already is an extra burden on the board.
"I have said it a few times that I don’t want to organize the BPL this way. One thing has to be said again. In one tournament, for the last two years, BCB has incurred losses of around 40 Crore Taka (3.13 crore Indian Rupees),” Tamim told reporters on Thursday.
Something is going wrong: Tamim Iqbal, BCB president on BPL
Iqbal mentioned that the franchise cricket league was supposed to make money for the Bangladesh Cricket Board. The reality is somehow different; the cricket board keeps investing money to run the league without fetching any notable profit for at least the last couple of years. So Tamim Iqbal believes there must be something wrong with the league.
"Franchise cricket is supposed to make money for the Bangladesh Cricket Board. Not lose money; something is going wrong. Until and unless we fix the issues, it is not absolutely important for us to host this event every year,” he said.
Will BCB host BPL this year?
As the BCB president raised questions on the league's financial issues and cast uncertainty over its future, the question followed automatically: will BCB arrange BPL this year? The board president replied, "I don’t think so. I don’t think BPL will be held this year,” he said.
Furthermore, Tamil Iqbal stated that they will not host the franchise league until they resolve the matter. When is the matter expected to be solved? Iqbal provided no timeline. As the BCB shared no timeline for the league's next season, the tournament's future will remain in jeopardy until the cricket board takes a u-turn in the future.
“A tournament from which the BCB is supposed to make a profit is instead making losses. So until this is corrected, holding it every year is not important to me. We have the intention, but I do not want to rush. If it takes six, 12 or 24 months to do it properly, I will take that time," Tamil Iqbal continued.
Communications with the franchises have already started to settle the financial issues. Iqbal stated the issues are related to missed payments and bank guarantees.
"We have started communication with the franchises. The issues involving those who defaulted have to be settled. The issues of missed payments and bank guarantees are being looked at step by step. We will organise the BPL only after taking the BCB to a profit-making position,” he said.
