It has now been a week since the tragic stampede and former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi yet again opened up on it and emphasised that at the core of the tournament lies public safety.
Speaking to Revsportz, Modi said, “Fans continue to be the life blood of the IPL. When it becomes about big money, they tend to be forgotten. Organisers forget the fans for they don’t seem relevant. But the truth is at every step the fans should be at the core of the story. If the fans are taken care of, the brand can never lose sheen”.
He went on to add, “When India won the 2007 World T20 we made sure that we were prepared for the victory parade in Mumbai. A lot of preparation had gone into it. Else don’t do it. You can’t lose a single fan like this. Each life is precious and I can’t accept what happened in Bengaluru”, said Modi.
In Milan at the moment, Modi concluded saying, “Why did we move the tournament away from India in 2009? Why did we move to South Africa? The only reason is we were not ready to compromise on public safety. When we were told the government couldn’t give us security, we were ready to spend few hundred million dollars more and move it away. At no point can you compromise public safety.”
Modi has taken to social media multiple times since the tragedy happened to express his sentiments and hopes nothing as tragic will ever happen with the IPL.