The ICC Board, by an overwhelming majority, agreed in principle to the constitutional and financial changes as proposed by a special Working Group that reviewed the 2014 resolutions on governance and revenue-sharing model over an eight-year phase from 2016 to 2023.
Eight full members — Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, and Bangladesh — voted in favour of the changes, while the BCCI, represented by Vikram Limaye, and Cricket Sri Lanka’s Thilanga Sumathipala voted against them.
A high-placed ICC official said: “He (Thilanga) said at the Board meeting that he was in favour of the new financial model, but does not agree with a few points in the governance structure, all related to associate and affiliate membership.”
The ICC Board will meet again at Dubai in the last week of April, but the changes approved on Saturday will be placed at the ICC’s annual conference after the Champions Trophy in June.
BCCI’s ‘alleged’ threat
It is understood that a BCCI official met almost all the members and told them that India would not take part in the Champions Trophy, and that N. Srinivasan was all set to return to power. “But the members were clear about what they were going to do,” said the ICC official.
A press release from the ICC, touching upon the governance model, said: “The changes recommended by the ICC Working Group in the constitutional and financial models have been passed in principle by the ICC Board, with a commitment to consider any further representations from the members and completing the detail by the April ICC Board meeting.”
The highlights of the governance model are: (1) a revised financial distribution, ensuring a more equitable share of revenue; (2) a revised constitution to reflect good governance, expanding and clarifying the roles and objectives of the ICC to provide leadership in international cricket; (3) potential to include additional full members (Ireland and Afghanistan, subject to both meeting membership criteria); (4) removal of the affiliate level of membership; (5) the introduction of membership criteria and a membership committee to ensure ongoing compliance; (6) the introduction of an independent female director; (7) equal weight of votes for all Board members regardless of membership status (all members entitled to attend the AGM).
The highlights of the new financial model include: (1) Equity; (2) Good conscience; (3) Common sense and simplicity; (4) Enabling every member to grow; (5) Revenue generated by members; (6) Greater transparency; (7) Recognition of interdependency amongst members so that the stronger countries help the other cricket-playing nations for the betterment of the sport.
The release further said: “The ICC Board agreed to work collaboratively on the detail of the constitutional and financial models in order to have a final sign-off at the April Board meeting and submission to the full ICC Council in June.”
ICC chairman Shashank Manohar said: “Today was an important step forward for the future of the ICC and cricket around the world. The proposals from the working group to reverse the resolutions of 2014 and deliver a revised constitutional and financial model were accepted by the ICC Board. We will now work collectively to refine the detail for final sign-off in April.
Reasonable and fair
“This also allows the new BCCI leadership appropriate time to get apprised of the details and contribute. I want the ICC to be reasonable and fair in its approach to all the 105 members, and the revised constitution and financial model does that.
“There are still details to work through and concerns to be addressed, but the principle of change has been agreed upon and is not for debate. There was a strong desire from the ICC Board to work together for the betterment of cricket, utilising the expertise appropriately and pursuing the growth of the sport around the world.”
The 2014 revenue model gave the BCCI ₹ 3250 crore over a period of eight years, and Bangladesh a mere ₹ 32 crore, which means ₹ 4 crore per year. “The change in India’s revenue will be equivalent to the money it earns from two Test matches; that’s from the 2014 and 2017 models,” said the ICC official.
