After the long-awaited facelift and remodelling of the International Cricket Council’s constitutional and financial structure were given a thumbs up by a two-third majority decision at its quarterly Board meeting in Dubai on Saturday, the full members may be given an opportunity to discuss the salient features of the new governance and revenue sharing model, clause-by-clause at the next Board meeting in the last week of April.
It is possible that the constitutional changes and revenue sharing model will be put to vote separately and not as a merged one as it was done on Saturday.
The ICC’s press release, after the three-day meeting of its Chief Executives Committee and the Board, did not reveal the real gains from the special working group’s proposed change.
But a Board member said that “equity” was the theme around which the revenue sharing model has been prepared although India (BCCI) would receive more than double the sum that’s been apportioned to England and Australia.
The five-member working group has worked out a revenue sharing model taking a post-expenditure line; the 2014 resolution had set aside 32% to be paid to its members first and then to pay for the expenses incurred.
The 2014 constitutional changes gave the cricket boards of India, Australia and England, the supreme “Big 3” status with all executive powers. Then it was resolved that the BCCI would take a big share of the annual revenue, much of it from the broadcast agreement with STAR Sports (around 22% before the ICC paid for its expenditure and another 4% after all expenses were paid) and with England’s share being 4.5%, Australia 2.9% and South Africa 1.3%.
Converted to Indian rupees, the BCCI’s share would have been ₹3250 crore; now scaled down to around ₹2500 crore for the 2016-2023 eight year cycle.
An ICC member said that its independent Chairman, Shashank Manohar, in the course of his 20 minute speech at the start of the Board meeting explained that there cannot be any “straightjacket” formula to determine revenue sharing model, and that “equity and conscience” should be the heart of the matter and that a wrong notion exists that India contributes near about 70% to the ICC annual revenue kitty.
The ICC understood the BCCI representative Vikram Limaye’s view that the two important matters could be put off to the next Board meeting in April, but it went ahead to get the approval.
Having been appointed to the Committee of Administrators (CoA), Limaye was altogether new to the ICC environment.
An official said: “He also attended the important ICC Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee and perhaps could have found out the other full members’ distrust of the BCCI.”
