Will PM Modi’s Austerity Call Affect IPL 2026? See What It Costs To Conduct One Indian Premier League Match

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call for national austerity during his address in Vadodara on Monday, urging citizens to minimise the use of private vehicles, reduce fuel consumption, and avoid buying foreign goods, among other measures.

The PM cited the ongoing war in the Middle East, involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, as the reason behind this COVID-era austerity drive. “Due to the war, the prices of petrol, diesel, gas and fertiliser have skyrocketed,” he said.

The conflict has led to a near-blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which is a critical artery for global oil supply. The supply chain disruption has led to crude oil prices rising globally, though India has largely resisted hiking the cost of petrol and diesel.

However, the soaring costs of imported fuel, edible oils, and gold have affected the Indian economy. India imports over 85% of its crude oil requirements, and the rising prices have affected the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

While Modi’s call makes sense if one looks at the global picture, it comes against the backdrop of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. The T20 franchise league is an annual festival of sorts in India, and, besides generating massive employment opportunities, it offers the masses a chance to escape their problems.

So, the moment Modi’s speech went live, worries surfaced about whether IPL would be the first, and biggest, casualty of the austerity drive. And it certainly wouldn’t be without precedent.

IPL’s less-glamorous cousin, the Pakistan Super League, was played in just two locations, and behind closed doors as our neighbouring nation struggled with rising fuel costs. This ban on fan entry was lifted only during the playoff phase by the Shehbaz Sharif government.

Even the IPL has seen mid-season interruptions. This happened last year, when IPL 2025 was suspended for an extended period due to an armed conflict with Pakistan and the resulting military operation called “Operation Sindoor”. The COVID-19 outbreak saw the league interrupted twice, in 2020 and 2021. General elections have resulted in IPL being moved overseas twice, in 2009 and 2014.

Before we worry about whether IPL can suffer a similar fate, we have to understand its cost vis-a-vis resource consumption. How much does it cost to conduct one IPL match? And how much do BCCI and the franchises burn to keep the tournament running? Let’s dive into these questions.

What Powers an IPL Match?

Hosting an IPL match is a massive energy sink for the stadium and state cricket authorities. The massive, sudden, and simultaneous load during a live match is so high that stadium authorities cannot rely solely on the local electricity board. Instead, they use massive diesel-generator backups to ensure uninterrupted broadcasting, as even a second of dead air can cost millions in advertising revenue.

While no official figures exist, according to a report by the New Indian Express, a single evening game consumes between 2,500 and 3,000 litres of diesel, which amounts to around INR 2.5 lakh. Across a 74-match season, the diesel consumption pushes well past 200,000 litres just to keep the lights on and the cameras rolling.

The Financial Burn For Franchises

Then, of course, there’s the financial burden on the BCCI and the franchises. The IPL is the second-most lucrative sports league in the world on a per-match basis, behind only the NFL. It generates around INR 118 crore per match for the central pool. Where the rewards are high, however, so are the costs.

The BCCI has a budget of just under INR 4 crore for each match, which includes money allocated for paying the match officials, the state government and cricket association, local municipal authorities, and the state electricity board.

There’s a separate cost for the franchises, which ranges from INR 4 crore to INR 5 crore. They have to pay stadium fees to the state associations, manage the catering and merchandise, and oversee the marketing and promotional activities.

However, the heaviest financial and fuel expenditure comes from the skies. IPL teams do not use commercial airlines, relying on chartered flights to get their contingent – more than three dozen people – between 13 host cities. During the peak IPL season, aviation charter rates surge drastically, costing franchises lakhs, depending on the aircraft size.

Then, of course, there are the accommodation costs. IPL players, especially the overseas ones, travel with their families. The team contingents can surge to over 100 members, often occupying entire hotel floors.

Will Austerity Call Force IPL 2026 Scale-Down?

Short answer: extremely unlikely.

Firstly, the BCCI is an autonomous body and is the richest cricket board in the world. Similarly, the IPL franchises are akin to privately owned corporations, backed by rich benefactors. And the entire IPL ecosystem is heavily bound by contracts, which leaves no scope for mid-season changes.

There are broadcasters and sponsors involved as well, all of which have signed binding agreements with the league dictating the scale of production. Even if the BCCI wants to, it simply cannot turn off the floodlights to save diesel without being in breach of contract.

Secondly, the IPL is an extremely lucrative event for all the stakeholders. The franchises earn approximately INR 484 crore each from the central media-rights pool. This allows them to absorb the exorbitant matchday costs, even inflated ones.

However, the austerity drive might impact IPL 2026 in secondary ways. The government’s austerity call might put more pressure on the state cricket associations to reduce power consumption, making them less lenient with grid allocations for the IPL matches. This could force the stadiums to rely more heavily on expensive diesel backups.

The hotels might also struggle to handle the large travelling contingents if oil and basic supply prices increase. However, all of this is just speculation at the moment, with the league still unaffected.

At the end of the day, the Indian Premier League is simply too vital to the Indian economy, generating jobs and millions of rupees for the hospitality, aviation, and entertainment industries. There’s little to no chance for the tournament to be grounded by austerity appeals, certainly not when IPL 2026 is about to enter the playoff stages.

So, for now, the show will go on, burning through millions of rupees and thousands of litres of fuel every evening as the country struggles to tighten its purse.

In IPL 2026, the Gujarat Titans (GT) will host Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.