Last Updated: May 8, 2026 01:23 PM
The biggest cricket league in the world is about to get even bigger. Indian cricket’s governing body just made a massive announcement about tournament expansion. Fans will get significantly more IPL action than ever before starting soon.
BCCI Announces 94 Matches From 2028 Plan
IPL chairman Arun Dhumal confirmed the BCCI’s ambitious expansion plans recently in interviews. The league will jump from 74 matches to 94 matches starting IPL 2028. That’s 20 additional games added to the tournament schedule annually.
This IPL Expansion doesn’t involve adding new franchises beyond the current ten. Instead, BCCI wants a complete home-and-away format with existing teams. Every team will play every other team twice in the season. Dhumal explained the logic behind not adding more franchises right now.
“With the given set of teams, only we can go for more number of matches. So it doesn’t make sense to increase the number of teams as of now. Because if we have to have an equal number of home and away matches, from 74 we can go up to 94. That would be the ideal situation,” he told India Today.
The current format uses 74 matches with virtual groups introduced after adding teams. That system doesn’t give fans the true home-and-away rivalries they desire. IPL 2028 will finally deliver that proper double round-robin format completely.
Why IPL Expansion Got Delayed Until 2028
The ICC Future Tours Programme locks international cricket schedules until 2027 tightly. That limits IPL to just the March-May window currently available. BCCI can’t expand matches without more time on the calendar.
After 2027, BCCI wants a dedicated 2.5-month window exclusively for IPL. That requires reducing the bilateral international series significantly during that period. Negotiations with other cricket boards continue about this arrangement persistently.
“Since the bilaterals are locked in till 2027, we would need a bigger window to raise the number of games from 74 to 94,” Dhumal explained. “So we are looking for a bigger window post-2027 bilateral cycle. In case we can get that, we will definitely try to have 94 games.”
The original media rights deal worth INR 48,390 crore included gradual increases. Plans called for 84 matches by 2025-2026 that never materialized. International cricket commitments kept blocking those IPL Expansion plans repeatedly before now.
Broadcasting companies also oppose certain scheduling changes that affect them financially. They dislike afternoon games because viewership drops dramatically during daytime hours. Ad revenue suffers badly during those slots compared to evening matches.
How Big Is IPL Already?
IPL ranks as cricket’s biggest event after the ICC World Cups globally. The 2026 opener between RCB and SRH generated over 426 million views. That easily surpassed most T20 World Cup 2026 matches in viewership.
Ten teams currently compete: the original eight plus GT and LSG added. BCCI has stabilized the tournament at ten franchises consistently since 2022. 94 Matches from 2028 represent the maximum possible with ten teams playing home-and-away.
