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Mo Bobat says the Bengaluru stampede victims’ stories will be part of RCB’s heritage.
Crowd during RCB’s victory celebrations in Bengaluru (File pic/PTI)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) director of cricket Mo Bobat said the stories of victims who lost their lives in the Bengaluru stampede in June will forever be part of the franchise’s ‘heritage’. He said it was ‘incredibly sad’ that those who died were the same fans for whom RCB wanted to achieve the title.
RCB and the state government shared comparable blame as 11 people — mostly teens — were killed outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Some RCB and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) officials were arrested for their alleged role in inviting thousands of fans outside the ground for the victory parade. The government investigation found RCB to have mismanaged the crowd, while court cases are still ongoing.
“Cricket and the IPL is so much about passion and enjoyment, and one of our biggest motivators is our fans,” Bobat told Cricbuzz in an interview. “We talked during the competition that we want to win it for our fans. They’ve been the patient ones. Some of us are new. These fans have waited 18 years, so we wanted to do it for them, and for some of them to have lost their lives just feels incredibly sad. We look forward to being able to recognise those people and their families. Their stories become a part of our history now. Every sports team has a history, and it has a heritage. What they’ve experienced becomes a part of our heritage and history, and we have to honour them.”
It needs to be seen if and how RCB try to honor the fans. At the time, they had provided a compensation of Rs 10 lakh per victim, a fraction of their Rs 514 crore reported revenue for 2024-25.
For now, it’s unclear whether the Chinnaswamy Stadium will be able to even host any matches at the ground in IPL 2026. The stadium has been declared unfit for large gatherings by a state committee looking into the stampede, and several matches, including ones in the local Maharaja T20 and Maharani T20 competitions and the 2025 Women’s World Cup, have already been moved out.
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