ICC’s $400 million offer to BCCI still on table as Manohar looks to resolve crisis
DUBAI: Cricket’s global governing body has received a thumping mandate from its members to proceed with a broad restructure aimed at curbing the dominance of the “Big Three” — Australia, India and England.
The sweeping changes were passed in a vote during a meeting at the International Cricket Council (ICC) headquarters in Dubai, the governing body said in a statement on Thursday.
The shake-up amends the ICC’s constitution and financial structure so that revenue is more equitably distributed among members and less power is concentrated in the hands of the “Big Three”.
It reverses a much-criticised ICC decision in 2014 to relinquish more control to Australia, England and India, the world’s most powerful cricketing boards.
The restructure was agreed to in principle in February by the majority of Test playing nations — including England and Australia — but India opposed the proposal.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India stands to lose $277 million revenue over the next eight years under the changes, with more flowing to minor Test nations and associate members like Ireland and Afghanistan.
“This model was passed 13 votes to one,” the ICC said in a statement.
“A revised constitution was also approved by 12 votes to two,” it said, adding the changes would be put to the ICC in June for adoption.
Despite India’s opposition to the reforms, it was a former BCCI boss who was instrumental in pushing through the changes.
ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, who was asked by the council to defer his resignation last month to see the reform package through, declared it “another step forward for world cricket”.
“I am confident we can provide a strong foundation for the sport to grow and improve globally in the future through the adoption of the revised financial model and governance structure,” he said.
Based on current forecasts for revenues and costs, the BCCI would now receive $293 million across the eight-year cycle, down from the $570 million it would have received under the 2014 arrangement.
The ICC said the England and Wales Cricket Board would be the second-best earners with $143 million, Zimbabwe would receive $94 million while the remaining seven full members would get $132 million each in the new model.
Meanwhile, according to reports the door has not yet been completely shut on the BCCI as far as the ICC’s finance model is concerned. Reports suggest that immediately after the BCCI was outvoted at the ICC Board meeting on Wednesday, Monohar informed Amitabh Choudhury, the BCCI secretary, that the settlement offer of an additional $100 million was still on the table.
Under the new finance model, the BCCI stands to receive $293 million from the ICC revenue across an eight-year cycle. The BCCI had wanted $570 million - the share it would have received under the previous Big Three finance model - but Manohar had made a counter offer of an additional $100 million over the $293 million to raise the Indian board’s share to nearly $400 million.
On Wednesday, the ICC board read the letter submitted by Choudhury on the mandate given to him by the BCCI and rejected his proposal.
Hours before before the ICC Board met, Choudhury and BCCI CEO Rahul Johri conducted discussions with heads of various boards such as the ECB, Cricket Australia, the WICB, Associates representative Imran Khawaja, and Manohar.
It is understood that both BCCI representatives wanted to try and find a “middle path” on the finance model. The idea was to get as close to the $445 million figure the Committee of Administrators (CoA, appointed by Supreme Court of India to supervise the BCCI) had asked Manohar for in March.
There was then a separate meeting between Choudhury and three members of the ICC working group, which had drafted the new constitution. Manohar, ECB chairman Giles Clarke and CA chairman David Peever once again placed the offer of an additional $100 million to Choudhury.
With Choudhury refusing to enter a discussion on the settlement deal, the ICC working group was left with no choice but to ask for a show of hands. The BCCI was taken aback when Full Members whom it understood to be in its corner swayed to the ICC side. The BCB, Zimbabwe Cricket and the WICB have been BCCI allies for a long time, but on Wednesday they voted against it. The case of the BCB and ZC was surprising only because both had submitted strong reservations at the outset of the ICC Board meeting. ZC even called the draft constitution “discriminatory.”
The official said one main reason behind these three boards changing stance was the ICC’s decision to provide them financial help. It is understood ZC could be given $19 million to clear its debt while the WICB had asked for $40 million as a grant.
The working group will meet once again during the ICC’s annual conference in June to approve the final changes to the constitution, governance structure and finance model - all of which would be finally ratified by the ICC Board. “All the boards want this resolved also,” the official said. “What happened yesterday does not mean India has diminished.”
Choudhury told the ICC that he would need to head back to the BCCI, which will take a final decision at a special general body meeting (SGM).
The official said India still had the bargaining power because of its importance in bilateral cricket. He pointed out that the ICC might need to increase its settlement offer and “go beyond” the proposed $100 million.