IPL playoff venues to be announced The IPL governing council is set to finalise the venues for all the playoff matches in IPL 2015. The Maharashtra Cricket Association's stadium on the outskirts of Pune is in contention to stage the second qualifier, scheduled for May 22. The BCCI and IPL authorities have so far announced only Eden Gardens in Kolkata as the venue for the final, to be played on May 24. As per convention, defending champions and runners-up are awarded two playoff matches each. Since three stands of the the MA Chidambaram Stadium, home of the 2013 losing finalists Chennai Super Kings, are under construction, it is not yet sure if Chennai will be awarded a playoff match.

The fate of the 2015 Champions League Twenty20 is set to be discussed during the IPL's governing council meeting in Delhi on Monday. While a section in the BCCI, the major stakeholders in CLT20, is keen to shelve the tournament, a final decision will only be taken after consulting with all the stakeholders.

According an IPL insider, the governing council members have been "sounded off" about the possibility of the CLT20 being "called off". It is understood that the BCCI and the broadcaster, Star Sports, are not keen on continuing with a tournament that has failed to garner attention - from fans as well as advertisers - in its six editions.

Since its inception in 2009, the tournament has failed to attract title sponsors, spectators as well television ratings. As a result, the BCCI wants to put its foot down on the other two stakeholders - Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa - to pull the plug on the tournament.

The only glitch for the tournament to be called off permanently is it would affect revenue models of all the franchises, especially the IPL teams. Since four IPL franchises are assured of featuring in the CLT20, a part of all the IPL franchises' sponsorship deals is based on the team's qualification for the CLT20.

For the non-Indian franchises, the appearance money of $200,000 is so huge that it exceeds the sponsorship revenue for most of the participating teams. If the IPL franchises are convinced about the non-utility of CLT20, then the BCCI will go ahead with the termination of the tournament. In such a case, the biggest losers will be the non-IPL franchises.