Imagine settling in for two and a half months of wall-to-wall IPL cricket — every team playing every other side, home and away. No virtual groups. No scheduling shortcuts. Just pure, unfiltered franchise cricket. That future, it turns out, is closer than you think.
BCCI IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal has officially confirmed that the Board is actively exploring expanding the Indian Premier League from its current 74-match format to a blockbuster 94-match season — likely from 2028 onwards.
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What’s Changing and Why It Matters
The IPL already dwarfs most sporting leagues in viewership. The IPL 2026 opener between RCB and SRH pulled in over 426 million views on JioHotstar — outperforming 51 of the 55 matches at the T20 World Cup 2024. And yet, the BCCI believes there’s still room to grow.
The key change? A complete home-and-away format across all 10 teams — meaning every franchise faces every other side twice. That dismantles the current “virtual group” system introduced when Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants joined in 2022.
IPL Expansion at a Glance
| Season | Matches Planned | Matches Played |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 74 | 74 |
| 2024 | 74 | 74 |
| 2025 | 84 (planned) | 74 |
| 2026 | 84 (planned) | 74 |
| 2028+ | 94 (target) | TBD |
The original media rights deal — reportedly worth a staggering ₹48,390 crore — already had a gradual match expansion built in. The delay has been the packed ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP), which keeps the international calendar locked through 2027.
The One Big Obstacle: The FTP Window
Dhumal was candid about the challenge. With bilateral series locked in until 2027, the IPL simply cannot stretch beyond its current March–May slot without pulling players away from international commitments. The BCCI is now lobbying for a dedicated two-and-a-half-month IPL window in the next ICC cycle.
“Since the bilaterals are locked in till 2027, we would need a bigger window to raise the number of games from 74 to 94. So we are looking for a bigger window post-2027 bilateral cycle.” — Arun Dhumal, IPL Chairman
No new teams are planned. Dhumal made it clear the Board doesn’t want to dilute the domestic talent pool — 10 franchises, more games, same stars.
Our Take
This is cricket going the football route — and honestly, it’s inevitable. More matches mean more revenue, more global eyeballs, and a stronger case for the IPL becoming a true global sporting institution. For fans, that’s 20 extra nights of T20 drama per season. The only real question is whether the ICC will play ball on the calendar.
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