Huge amount spent in IPL II for ceremonies, hospitality

Mumbai:

The Indian Premier League spent over 55 crore in opening and closing ceremonies, entertainment and hospitality when the Twenty20 League was held in South Africa last year with now suspended Lalit Modi at its helm.

The cost of the opening and closing ceremonies, which was 7.36 crore in the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008 held in India, shot up to Rs 18.37 crore, according to the statement of accounts presented today at the IPL Governing Council meeting here.

The entertainment and hospitality expenses amounted to Rs 33 crore in South Africa, while the league expenses also saw an increase of Rs 15 crore from the previous year and amounted to Rs 65 crore.

The administrative expenses shot up from 47.5 crore in 2008-09 to just over Rs 78 crore in 2009-10, including almost Rs 50 crore spent on advertisements.

Though payment to event management firm IMG got reduced from Rs 44 crore in 2008-09 to 34 crore in 2009-10, the overall impact of the shift of IPL to South Africa led to a deficit of around Rs 39 crore for BCCI.

This was in spite of augmentation of media rights income from Rs 242 crore to Rs 364 crore, income from sale of tickets amounting to Rs 22 crore (in SA) and increased sponsorship inflow from Rs 111 crore to Rs 117 crore.

The outgo from BCCI coffers towards payment to the eight franchises was Rs 310 crore in 2009-10 as compared to Rs 220 crore in 2008-09.