Broadcasters don't want India's bilateral series? BCCI insider speaks on IPL's 94-match expansion

Cricket is hurtling towards a major calendar change and leading that transformation could be led by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian Premier League (IPL), as the window for the T20 league may soon be expanded.

Currently, IPL starts around the end of March and runs till the end of May, and consists of 74 matches. Despite 10 teams, the league phase consists of only 14 games for each franchise instead of 18. There has been a long-standing demand that the IPL window must be extended to incorporate a total of 94 games, which will allow the organisers to arrange home and away league matches between all teams.

And that could soon become a reality as broadcasters may also prefer such an arrangement.

BCCI to reduce bilateral series?

An explosive report in news agency PTI has claimed that broadcasters are "not seeing value" in some of the bilateral series, while a BCCI source said that moving the start of IPL to the beginning of March may open up the window to accommodate 94 games.

More from Firstcricket

"We can't play 94 games in the current window as the monsoon starts after May. Either we split into two halves, or we do it from the first week of March and have it till May 15. That would be the best window when 94 matches are played," the source said.

"We also need to see the feasibility of bilateral series going forward. Every country has their own league, they are not entirely dependent on hosting the India series. So, we need to see the feasibility of bilaterals going forward. The broadcaster is already not seeing value in some of the bilateral series being played. If cricket has to go the soccer way, all boards need to buy into it," the BCCI source added.

It appears the clearing up of the early March window will come at the cost of some bilaterals, but with the rise of franchise cricket across countries, that would not be a surprise. There's a feeling that broadcasters and organisers can make bigger profits through league games rather than international matches.