KSCA’s Request For Additional 10,057 Complimentary Tickets Led to IPL Final Venue Shift: Report

Bengaluru: A BCCI source said that the Karnataka State Cricket Association’s demand for an additional 10,057 free tickets led to the IPL final and playoff matches being shifted there from the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Since Royal Challengers Bengaluru were the defending champions, according to the convention, Bengaluru would host the final.

However, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal told PTI that holding the final here had become “untenable” due to high demand for free tickets at the relatively low-capacity venue, which can accommodate only 35,000 fans.

This season’s play-off matches will be played in Dharamsala (May 26) and New Chandigarh (May 27 and 29), while the title fight (May 31) will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

“KSCA has the right to get free tickets worth 15 per cent of the stadium capacity. However, KSCA has demanded an additional 10,057 tickets,” the source told PTI. he said.

In this sense, the association needed approximately 900 passes just to meet the demands of members of the state legislature.

“KSCA agreed to provide three free passes to MLAs/MLCs (about 900 passes in total).

“Furthermore, additional commitments with the Expert Committee and the Government of Karnataka would require an additional 750 complimentary tickets in addition to a limited number of free accommodation passes beyond the standard 15 per cent.”

This would leave fans with just 20,000 tickets.

The source said that the association has also requested paid tickets at a discounted rate.

“There are also 3,007 tickets at a discounted price of Rs 2,000 at the P3 stand for cricket playing clubs and 900 tickets at the Members Stand for spouses and children of members.

“Apart from this, the association was also required to purchase 1,000 tickets at the M4 stand at an average cost of Rs 2,000 and 3,500 tickets at the stands to be purchased by life members,” the source said.

The numbers confirmed Dhumal’s claim.

“(Chinnaswamy) The capacity of the stadium is also not that high. There were very few tickets available for league matches as well. Since the IPL final attracts people from across the world, we need to have a larger inventory (of tickets) for the fans,” he said.