The Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) is a men's Twenty20 (T20) cricket league that is annually held in the state of Tamil Nadu in India and contested by eight city-based franchise teams. The league was formed in 2016 by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA). It is usually played during post summer season from June to August of every year. Shriram Group is the current title sponsor of the tournament.
As of 2023, there have been seven seasons of the tournament. The present title holder is Lyca Kovai Kings.Chepauk Super Gillies are the most successful team after winning the title four times.
History
Background
In 2016, the TNPL was launched at the time when Chennai Super Kings, the Tamil Nadu franchise playing Indian Premier League (IPL), was facing a two-year suspension from the league. The league was aimed to make up for the absence of high-profile matches in Chennai in the year and to expose talented players from districts. It was conceived by former BCCI president and then TNCA president N. Srinivasan.
Franchise rights
On 1 May 2016, TNCA invited bidders for the eight franchise rights. A total of 17 bidders participated in the bidding process and current members of TNCA were not allowed to participate. The base price set for each franchise was for a period of 10 years. The franchise rights was sold for and the highest bidder chose Salem for .
Foundation
On 16 August 2016, the first edition was inaugurated by MS Dhoni in Chennai. The first edition featured international cricketers including Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik and Lakshmipathy Balaji. Former cricketers Robin Singh and Michael Bevan were among the coaches. Matthew Hayden was the brand ambassador of the league. No players representing other state associations participated in the inaugural season as they were not given permission at the time by the BCCI. Star Sports were the TV broadcasters. The first season was played from 24 August to 18 September.
Organisation
Tournament format
The eight teams play against each other in the league phase in round-robin format. Teams will get two points for each win. At the end of the league stage, top four teams in the points table will qualify for the playoffs. Much like the IPL, the playoffs consist of three matches before the final: one eliminator and two qualifiers. The top two teams from the league phase will play against each other in the Qualifier 1, with the winner going straight to the final and the loser getting another chance to qualify for the final by playing the Qualifier 2. Meanwhile, the third and fourth place teams from league phase play against each other in an eliminator match and the winner from that match will advance to play the Qualifier 2. The winner of this match will head to final to meet the winner of Qualifier 1, where the winner will be crowned champions.
Player acquisition and salaries
Teams can acquire a maximum and minimum players of 22 and 16 respectively. They are allowed to retain three players each from last season. Player draft takes place before every season and the players are placed in four categories on the basis of their experience.
The salary cap for the most experienced players (Category A) was in 2016. In 2020, it was .
Until 2020, BCCI prevented TNCA from allowing outstation players to participate in the league. A maximum of 2 outstation players can be in a team given that they are not currently in any IPL team. A separate draft for outstation players happened after 2020 IPL season for TNPL season 5.
Sponsorship and revenues
The title sponsor from the inception was India Cements Limited whose term ended in 2019. In the first edition TNCA had earned a total of in franchise rights. This was the highest among all the local T20 leagues in India. The business model followed by TNPL is similar to the IPL's model. For the first five years, central rights (broadcast fees and sponsorship fees) will be shared 80 per cent among the eight franchises with the rest going to the administrator TNCA. This excludes the match staging costs. As much as 65 per cent will be divided equally between the franchises with the rest 15 per cent given to the franchises as per their standing in the league. Gate collections are not shared with the franchises. To attract sponsors, owners were advised to name their teams after districts in the state.
In 2019, some of the franchises faced financial difficulties and asked TNCA to bring changes to the revenue sharing model of the league.
Prize money
The prize money split between the teams are: