The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is thinking about making the IPL season longer by increasing the number of matches to 94 from the 2028 season. However, even with a bigger season, there are no plans right now to add any new teams to the tournament.
The tournament switched to a 74-match format in 2022 after Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants joined the competition. There were also talks about increasing it to 84 matches from 2025, but the idea was dropped because of scheduling issues.
BCCI Plans Longer IPL Season with Home-and-Away Format
The IPL’s place in the Future Tours Programme (FTP) has been set from mid-March to the end of May for the next two seasons. Meanwhile, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal shared that the board is seriously thinking about switching to a full home-and-away format for the tournament when the new media rights cycle begins.
“Definitely, that might be an opportunity. We’ve been discussing in ICC, we’ve been discussing in-house in BCCI. Given how the interest of the fan is changing with regard to bilateral and ICC events, in regard to franchise cricket and T20 cricket, we’ll have to talk more seriously about it and see how we can create maximum value for the stakeholders of the game,” Dhumal told ESPNcricinfo.
“Ideally, we’d want a larger window, or to maybe go on from 74 to 84 or 94 at some point… So that every team gets to play against every team home and away, for that, you need 94 games,” he added.
The length of the IPL season will be talked about more when the board shares details of the next Future Tours Programme (FTP). As per ESPNcricinfo, many IPL teams are supporting the idea of having a 94-match season. However, whether this happens could depend a lot on how much interest broadcasters show.
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