IPL 2021: "I would love for IPL to happen in India," says India on Track CEO Vivek Sethia
India on Track Founder and CEO Vivek Sethia appeared on SK Live recently, where he talked about the return of IPL to India. He felt that the 14th edition of the tournament should happen in India because it would send a message that the nation is ready to host significant sporting events with or without fans.
In an exclusive chat with Taruka Srivastava on Sportskeeda's Facebook page, Vivek Sethia discussed how sports have slowly resumed after the COVID-19 break. The fans have returned to the stadiums in Australia and the United Kingdom, but the situation is not the same in India.
When asked about his view on how the situation of Indian sports could improve, Vivek Sethia replied:
"I would love for IPL to happen in India. I have heard some rumors of again IPL going to Sri Lanka, but I am not in the scene to be able to say what's going to happen. But I would love for the IPL even with limited or no fans. I would love for IPL to make a statement that at least from a hosting perspective, we are ready."
ISL 2020-21 is currently underway in India, with Goa hosting the entire competition. Talking about the Indian football tournament, Vivek continued:
"I love the fact we are doing the ISL, and we are doing it now, and we are doing it in a secured bubble. So far, there have been no cases or no complaints."
Lastly, Sethia pointed out that most of the sporting leagues in India generated only around 1% revenue from ticketing. Hence, it was better to conduct tournaments with no fans instead of a complete sports lockdown in his view.
IPL 2020 happened in the United Arab Emirates behind closed doors
While IPL 2021 is still a few months away, the cricket universe enjoyed the 13th IPL season in the UAE. Three venues hosted the entire competition with no COVID cases in the bio-bubble.
The BCCI is aiming to stage IPL 2021 in India. It will be interesting to see which stadiums get the hosting rights and if the fans will be allowed inside the stadiums.