The International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) has been a house of cards for a while now, with a deep financial crisis side-lining the tournament for the last two years with a number of stakeholders yet to be paid, including top tennis players like Marin Cilic.
But now there is fresh trouble in store for founder Mahesh Bhupathi as TV Production company Broadcast Sports News issued a press release calling him out over the non-payment of dues from the 2016 season, almost 20 months since the last edition. In a release shared on Twitter by Steph Trudel, they have slammed Bhupathi and IPTL for “breaking the business code”, calling their following up for their payment a “comedy of broken promises and sliding payment deadlines.”
“Twenty-two months later and the entire production crew, technology service providers, satellite uplink and distribution suppliers, chair umpires and court surface provider remain unpaid including their expenses, visas costs, per diems and ground transport fees,” reads the statement.
In response, Bhupathi was quoted as saying that this is a process that needs time as they are still recovering from losses due to one fraudulent company.
“In 2016, one of the IPTL team owners, the Legenderi Group that owned the Japan franchise, turned out to be frauds and their share of the payment close to 8 million was the reason things came spiralling down,” the Indian Davis Cup captain told The New Indian Express.
He added that the IPTL management has been in contact with various parties assuring them of payment when they recover.
“It’s been extremely painful in general but we will get it done one way or another, it’s just that these processes need time,” he said.
IPTL brought the biggest starts in tennis together, from Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Nick Kyrgios, Andy Murray to name a few. But after two years, Bhuptahi was unable to sustain the operation financially.
The statement from Broadcast Sports News in fact states that the organisers were aware of the financial issues, but chose to go ahead with the event. “A spokesperson representing the IPTL crew explained, “What is most frustrating is that the IPTL continued in December 2016 while the management team knew there were insufficient funds available to pay for it,” it reads.
Earlier this year, Cilic has revealed at the Maharashtra Open that the players dues were yet to be cleared, and didn’t seem very confident of getting the payment.
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