Updated: 14 May 2022
The Board of control for cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly planning to start the women’s IPL in 2023. Recently, the BCCI president announced the same in a media interaction. For those unaware, women’s T20 leagues are very popular in the countries such as England, Australia, West Indies, etc.
BCCI is eying to catch on to this opportunity to popularize women’s cricket in India. Even a few Indian women players were actively involved in the domestic cricket league (The Hundred) organized in England last year. Though BCCI is very optimistic about staging the women’s IPL in India, there will surely be a few challenges in store.
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Let Us Analyze The Challenge & Prospects For Women’s IPL 2023
The Popularity Of Women’s Cricket In India
It is no brainer that women’s cricket is not as popular as men’s cricket in India. This has to do with the mindset of the Indian people, who get attracted to the hype of the men’s team. With every Indian match, the fans get crazy to see their favorite players in the park.
However, this scenario is very scarce when we talk about women’s team matches. Although the crowds do come up, the number is still meager compared to the men’s matches.
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Broadcaster’s Hesitancy To Spend Money On Women’s Cricket
The broadcasters in India spend money like water to get coverage for the cricket matches in India. The IPL broadcasting rights, which are set to be renewed (IPL 2023 to 27), are expected to fetch more than 50,000 crore rupees for BCCI. This amount is humongous, as compared to other sports events in India. However, when we talk about the media rights for women’s IPL cricket in India, the graph will nowhere fetch that much amount.
Star India, the official broadcaster for cricket events in India, pays around 60% less for women’s matches in India than for men’s cricket coverage. This clearly reflects the lack of attraction from the broadcasters.
Women’s Domestic Circuit Is Not Well Organized
The women’s domestic circuit is not well organized in India. There are raw talents in the domestic circuit, but somewhere they lack the support from the state associations to nurture these budding talents. Although organizing women’s IPL will provide the much-needed exposure, the lethargic approach of the state associations can negatively impact the overall scenario, as far as staging women’s IPL in India is concerned.
The Owners May Pump In Less Amount
IPL is all about generating revenue for all stakeholders. The owners of the men’s IPL team spend thousand of crores every IPL season. They are ready to afford that much amount because they get a good ROI, due to the immense popularity of men’s cricket in India.
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However, we cannot say the same about the women’s IPL matches, as the fans’ lack of interest won’t push the franchises to spend huge money to purchase them.
It is going to be a tough task for BCCI to arrange the women’s IPL in India, with the success that they have achieved while conducting the men’s IPL. However, we also feel that every sport is the same for both genders, and it is the right time for BCCI to find ways to make women’s cricket get popular in India and abroad.
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BCCI plans to start women’s IPL in 2023. It is expected that in the first year of women’s IPL there could be five or six teams.
