The amounts that cricketers receive for playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) are, as you will agree, considerably high. Nonetheless, have you ever thought about the match fees that players earn in every game?
IPL Match Fee Explained
Indeed. The match fee for players has been introduced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the IPL from 2025.
This was not the scenario earlier. But with franchises making more than enough money, BCCI might just think to share a portion among players.
So, what is the amount of match fee for IPL players?
According to BCCI, the match fee stands at INR 7.5 lakh per game for league stages for the players participating in IPL. Moreover, this amount is additional to the player’s regular salary.
Thus, the player can get his full contract amount along with the match fees. Hence, some of the players may get more than their contracted amount from match fees.
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How is it possible?
Suppose one of the franchises picks up a player for INR 30 lakh. The said player will play all the 14 league-stage matches.
Then the player will earn from match fees a total of INR 1.05 crore. This, of course, is three times his original contracted amount. Thus, he will take home INR 1.35 crore.
Isn’t that a great benefit not only for the players but especially for those with minimum salaries?
To illustrate, BCCI gives INR 3 lakhs for T20I international appearances. In contrast, IPL match fees are more than double that. Even an ODI appearance at INR 6 lakhs doesn’t give that amount to senior Indian cricketers!
The impact player is also the one who gets the match fees for that day.
The impact player, who will get INR 7.5 lakh even for a short appearance, is thus the one players will look forward to.
There will be a question about who pays the bill, BCCI or franchises?
Since the players are signed to IPL teams, it is the franchise that bears the cost of their match fees. The franchises will reserve a total of INR 12.60 crore for the entire season to cover the match fees.
This works out to INR 90 lakh per match that gets divided among the 12 players. However, the match fees do not count toward the franchise’s auction purse.
Have the players ever received extra incentives before?
The answer is yes, but it was different for each franchise. They used to encourage players according to how well the team did for the whole season. Besides, it was a practice that was not mandatory.
Franchises counted the performance-based pay, called Incremental Performance pay, as part of their total auction purse. But now it is a must for teams to pay the match fees irrespective of the team’s performance.
