Ganesh Kendale
The new Indian Premier League (IPL) Player Regulations for the 2025-27 season include significant changes to the purse of the 10 franchises for the ‘Big Auction’.
The regulations were finalized at the IPL Governing Council meeting in Bengaluru on Saturday and later made public in a press release.
While each of the 10 franchises can have INR 120 crore in the auction purse, there’s a significant change in the total salary cap.
The total salary cap used to be the sum of auction purse plus incremental performance pay. For 2024, it was INR 110 crore; but for the 2025 season, it has been increased to Rs 146 crore, largely because of the addition of a new component, i.e., the match fees.
“A match fee has been introduced for the first time in the history of IPL,” the BCCI press release said. “Each Playing member (including the Impact Player) will get a match fee of INR 7.5 Lakhs per match. This will be in addition to his contracted amount.”
The bonanza for the players now defines the salary cap as auction purse + incremental performance pay + match fees.
The press release also mentioned that the salary cap for IPL 2026 will increase to INR 151 crore, and for 2027 it will be INR 157 crore.
BCCI secretary, Jay Shah, further clarified the ‘match fee’ component in his social media post.
“Each franchise will allocate INR 12.60 crores as match fees for the season!” Shah wrote on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). “A cricketer playing all league matches in a season will get Rs. 1.05 crores in addition to his contracted amount.”
The ‘Big Auction is expected to be held in the second half of November this year at an overseas location, possibly in the Gulf.
