By Quietly Falling in Line with the Big Three, the Cricketing World Has
cricket silence of the lambs By quietly falling in line with the Big Three, the cricketing world has mortgaged the future of the sport, particularly Test cricket, further skewing the existing financial imbalance in favour of the big boys By Subash Jayaraman
Photographs by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images
first among equals The popularity of the sport in India and its economic viability has ensured BCCI the top position, where it’s calling the shots in world cricket. - - - - - 59 |
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s i hat There is every possibility that the reinstat the that possibility every is There stance CSA’s turnaround in dramatic The boards nine that’s track, keeping you’re If MARCH 2014 cluded from the powerbrokers group even as South Africa is a top cricketing nationICC events until 2023,of lack thefield), (on their into enquiry legal ICC pending the and chiefexecutive, Haroon Lorgat. On the eve Srinivasanwas Singapore, in meeting the of reporteddiscussionshave hadlong to with certain where CSA, president Nenzani, Chris concessions and compromises were made, and the was eighth guaranteed. “Aye” way its find will (2017) Trophy Champions ed most or likelihood,allall Africa;in South to Africa;theSouth in held will be 2014 IPL of fund,Test which, initially, excluded South Africa,thepossible of has themone asnow that indications also are there beneficiaries; thereshoulderwillthawing a cold thebe of that BCCI has been dealing Lorgat. to Mr. came as a rude surprise to both SLC and PCB but even they were convinced to not vote “Nay” and, instead, saveabstainingby home from whichit, facealso left back some wriggle room for them to come back SLC the then, Since negotiatingtable. the to executivecommittee “unanimouslyhas ap settling for 17) Feb. (on changes the proved” guaranteed income than publiclyLanka Sri averredyears, seven next the In principles. million $60 from of anincomeget to due is bilateraltours. Nishantha Ranatunga, SLC secretary, laid it all in black and white, or to object to going are we green.“If inrather suffer. to going is cricket our proposals their that all and principles about talk who People make to have We money. the us give willnot our money from these tours.” warmstilland justone theandincozy, out Per price. theywilla have Even cold—PCB. haps, a series with India in the UAE? W FTP, dous amount of resourcefulness and expedi and resourcefulness of amount dous ence in a swift move to concentrate power and increase their revenue shares, but one of number the is change never can they thing boards, the to up were it If calendar. a on days with their diktat maximise to their revenue schedule would they capabilities, generation T20 tournaments and domestic leagues to The Big Three boards have shown tremen in black and white and black in in meeting a at passed proposal, ICC The all encourages page), (facing Singapore Big the with Tests schedule to boards cricket money. the in draw help will that as Three - - - Thus, at the end of the ICC Executive In the interim nine-day period between of losing their Full Member voting rights and share of ICC revenue, they chose to go along. Of course, they have been promised tours from the Big Three as well, but following that anyone to surprise real no as came the situation. Board meeting held across Jan. 28–29 in Dubai,theproposal justone was needof in more vote to pass through. Which of theremaining three—Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Sri that one the be (SLC)—would LankaCricket cricket the change and deal the make would landscape forever? As it turned out, it was vot from “abstained” SLC and PCB asCSA, ing at the meeting in Singapore 8. Feb. on thetwo meetings, CSA, PCB and SLCwere various on changesthepublicly, to opposed counts,evencalling thechanges “constitu legality the questioning and flawed” tionally of the process by which the proposal was drawn up, among other things. CSA sent a missive invoking the spirit of the greatNelson Mandela, urging “the adherence to democratic principles and respect for the rights of all”. They expressed disappointment”“hurt in andthe original proposal, “equalityfor pled and democracy” also but listedfewissuesa thatsignificance wereof to them, as a cricketing nation and board. Thoseconcernsprimarilywere beingex of - - The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was (BCB) Board Cricket Bangladesh The From the outset, the cricket boards of This essentially lays bare the situation
ing tours from these nations (more so Indiaso these(more nationsfromtoursing than England or Australia) to fill up their coffers. Sink or swim? The smaller boards decided to swim. originallyopposed to the changes, primar ily due to the sticking pointwere of promotion/they Once proposed. was that relegation danger real no in were theyguaranteed that would grow a backbone in a matter of weeks of matter a in backbone a grow would cricket. over taking oligarchy the prevent and be. to wasn’t Alas, it Zimbabwe, New Zealand and West Indies werein favour the of changes. The reasons representatives respective the by propounded all underlined a fundamental single point of self-preservation and survival. quoteZealand To New of director the Snedden, Martin ICC the at power have we “Do (NZC): Cricket thehave we Do lot. a hellof a not No, table? bit. little A persuade? and influence to ability The critical thing is to identify the things ensuringmeansThat us. important to most stabilitythe playingour programme of and revenue generation.” those of outside boards national the by faced and together Paper Position the cobbled that the stark reality facing them. BCCI is the Englanddog. top andAustralia can handle entirely almost were rest the but themselves, incom of form the in handouts on dependent
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ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP - ”. dadagiri ” One might ask how it is any different tion Paper were blatant in their attempt to with three of money and power concentrate still it world, the in boards cricket largest the needed to pass the ICC Board, comprising of 10 Full Member nation representatives. Some of the changes required more than a three-fourth majority to pass. So there was boards cricket the of some that chance a still ROLE OF OTHER BOARDS OTHER OF ROLE Posi the in changes proposed the as much As of those that would have been outraged no at Make changes. these of audaciousness the been has that everychangealmost mistake; passed is designed to giveECB, a larger and share CA of BCCI, to cricket world of control revenues. of share larger a consequently, and, cricket one as but earlier, situation the from correspondent said, when casual racism is institutionalised, it’s called Apartheid.BCCI A official was reported “formalising to as have calledaptly, moves, these t give money. give t ’ - hatma Gandhi Ma Unsurprisingly, there were sops included sops were thereUnsurprisingly, if we object to the proposals, our our proposals, the to object we if “ talk who those suffer. will cricket won principles of model (BCCI wasn’t satisfied with its share), share), its with satisfied wasn’t (BCCI model administrative structures happy with(BCCI the ICC) and thewasn’t Future Tours Programme (which wasn’t legally binding proposed the of scrapping place), first the in reinstatingChampionshipfavour of in Test the more broadcaster-friendly Champions among other things.Trophy, and Fund, Match Test as such changes, the in current the beyond nations for way possible a ICC Full Members to play cricket,Test but eyes the over wool the pull to mostly was that - - - - MARCH 2014 |
finite world with finite amount of resources and it is incompatible with incompatible isit and of resources amount with finite world finite a a but not for man’s greed.” greed.” man’s for not but in in
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“There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need need man’s for world the in sufficiency a is “There ports S
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The wide-ranging changes that were pro were that changes wide-ranging The The details of the Position Paper are now now are Paper Position detailstheThe of However, that was only formalising a situation that had been prevalent in the ICC boardroom boardroom ICC the in prevalent been had that situation a formalising only was that However, cricket 58 pleteness, one draft version of it that was leaked, indicated that it was worked on by Com & Finance ICC’s of group workingthe the with committee, Affairs(F&CA) mercial prime movers behind the document being officer), operating chief Raman(IPL Sundar Dean Kino (general manager of legal and business affairs, Cricket Australia)—both members of the technical PereraCLT20—John (commercialcommittee director, of England and Wales Cricket Board) along withrespective heads the of three national cricketboards India, of Australia and Eng Giles and Edwards Wally Srinivasan, N. land, Clarke, respectively. posed in the Position Paper and have been deal form, modified slightly a in since passed currentdistribution revenue with ICC’s the common knowledge. For the sake of com to be passed has set a path for cricket that Geckoproud. makeGordon would for the better part of two decades. This goes to the root of how cricket as a sport, and as we we as and sport, a cricketas how of root the to This goes twobetter decades. the part of for proposals the to led has that dealing and wheeling The future. the in shaped willbe it, know that has skewed further the already existing financial disparity among its member nations. furthermember existing itsskewed has already that the financial disparity among W cricket
show me the money Doing away with the FTP will help cut back on international commitments, the Key Changes and What They Really Mean freeing up time for the more financially- l Opportunity for all members l A larger percentage from ting poorer”, further widening viable T20 leagues, the IPL and the BBL. to play all formats of cricket the increasing Associate the economic inequality of on merit, with participation Members’ surplus will be cricketing nations. Several based on meritocracy; no distributed to the higher calculations published indi- immunity to any country, performing non- cate that BCCI stands run the entire year, as T20s have proven to and no change to member- Full Members to accrue an additional be money-spinners compared to Tests in most ship status Teams may not perform as $450 million from the of the Test world. This sounds like a good well as they would like to, for proposed model, while ECB As of now, the Indian Premier League change but with no penalty many reasons, including the and CA will take home an of loss of membership, this fact that they do not have additional $55 million and (IPL) and the Big Bash League (BBL), two isn’t really a push towards sufficient funds to develop $13 million, respectively. of the more successful franchise-based T20 meritocracy. If Ireland or Af- the game at the grassroots The remaining seven Full leagues, run for roughly two months, while ghanistan were to work their and pay for facilities. If a Member nations stand to lose the other 10 months are used by the BCCI way in to the top 10 of the non-Full Member who may approximately $260 million and CA to honour international obligations. Test rankings, would they be not be “performing higher” is cumulatively, and the funds The obvious way to provide more calendar awarded Full Member status? going to be crippled further, available to the Associate na- space for their domestic T20 leagues is to cut No clarity on that. One would what are the chances they tions would be dented to the assume no, as that would would ever get to better the tune of $312 million. back on international commitments and that shrink the revenue available performances? This is clas- l The establishment of an is exactly what scrapping the existing FTP to the existing Full Members. sic Catch-22. You need the Executive Committee (ExCo) structure achieves, with inclusion of clauses l A Test Cricket Fund paid money to perform better but and Financial & Commercial that do not force any nation to play any other equally on an annual basis you don’t get the money till Affairs Committee (F&CA) nation unless bilaterally agreed. to all Full Members (except you perform better! to provide leadership at an The Position Paper also indicated that the the BCCI, CA and ECB) to l Mutually agreed bilateral operational level, with five “FTP must provide members with a clear path encourage and support FTP Agreements members, including BCCI, Test cricket This is the most significant CA and ECB representa- to sustainability and engagement with their This, in theory, is a good change proposed as there is tives. Anybody from within domestic stakeholders”. The proposal, even concept which could allow no central FTP that governed the Board can be elected though claims that its goals are to ensure Test “financially unviable Test the schedule over a four-year to chair the Board and cricket remained “competitive and relevant” series” to happen. But if the cycle. The fallout from this anybody from within ExCo and the “primary form of the game”, takes a nations. By adopting the devious proposals motivation is to make the is discussed in detail in the and F&CA can be elected to rather patronising stance towards that format “unanimously”, the member nations have most money, why would a main story. Chair those Committees and, at every turn, drives home the point that mortgaged the future of the sport, especially board even schedule a series l A need to recognise the If BCCI, ECB and CA, the for which they know they will varying contribution of Full permanent members on the it is “financially unviable” for most members, the format that is considered the pinnacle have to dip in to their fund? Members to the value of ICC ExCo, were to display any of while also encouraging boards to schedule of the sport but according to the proposal This only encourages the events through the payment the cunning, cleverness and Tests only versus the Big Three, as they are “financially debilitating” Test cricket. behaviour of boards to look of ‘contribution costs’ collusion with which the no longer required to host tours that aren’t When does sport stop being a sport and even more unfavourably at A cost model whose real basis Position Paper was put going to make the home board money! become a business? Is cricket a sport, or busi- the not-so-profitable tours was never truly revealed but together, the promises of Even with mutually agreed bilateral series, ness? Those two cannot, by definition, coex- that don’t feature India, Eng- has its foundations in “rich “anybody can be elected” the proposed changes allow for teams to re- ist. If the boards are in place to “govern” the land and Australia. getting richer, and poor get- will remain just a myth. nege on it with clauses such as “No obliga- sport in their respective nations, they cannot tion of member to tour if home board has its be driven solely by the need to maximise the primary media rights deal in the territory of revenues and increase the profit margins. The obvious question to be asked next is, squelched by the need to maximise profit, the tourist member with a broadcaster that Then, they become corporations. And corpo- “How much money is enough money for a Test championship is dropped, and the lesser is then involved in material litigious court rations are driven by the singular objective board?” Words like “independent” and “self- seven members are encouraged to avoid play- matter with that touring member or the ICC”. of profit, the basic tenet of capitalism. sufficient” are nebulous words that can mean ing uneconomical cricket, even as a “Test Former ICC president Ehsan Mani pointed It must be expressly registered here that many things to many people. To paraphrase fund” is instituted. out the dispute BCCI has been having with the boards of Big Three nations laid down Mahatma Gandhi, no amount of money would The CSA president, Mr. Nenzani, said in Zee (through Ten Sports), which has been the the law stating that all member nations ought be sufficient, if maximisation is the goal. an interview after casting the deciding vote broadcast rights holder in Zimbabwe, South to become “financially strong and indepen- It is easy to see that the most bang for that “it’s not a perfect world” when asked Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, in a strongly dent” and “self-sufficient”. This does awfully the buck is in T20 cricket. It is the most about their change in stance. Certainly. We worded review of the Position Paper. sound like the rich exhorting the poor to “pull attractive format to the broadcasters and are all aware that we do not live in a per- themselves up by their bootstraps” without sponsors. Franchise-based domestic T20 fect world. But, our goal should be to make The Future of Cricket actually making the means available. The Big leagues provide the most scope for imme- it more perfect than we found it. By going
The ICC declares on its website that its mis- P Three have, hence, made financial profits the diate revenue growth as more space in the along with the proposed changes, the boards a u
no amount of money will be l sion is to promote the “global game” and its K foremost goal for every cricketing board, and calendar becomes available with reduction in have ensured that cricket has become far less PL) I an strategic direction is the growth of “men’s y e/Gett the other boards have agreed unanimously, international commitments. The hypocrisy perfect than it was. ± and women’s international cricket”. The ICC with tacit approval from the PCB, and this that jumps out of the pages of the proposal RAN/AFP ( I
enough if maximisation, as the Imag K has not been the shining beacon in terms of h officially changes the objective of every board is staggering. While lip service is paid to The author is a cricket writer and t e na s (
cricketing governance over the years, as it ju from governing a sport, to maximising re- the sanctity and the primacy of Test crick- podcaster based in the US and his work BB an L) is nothing but a conglomerate of member proposal espouses, is the goal M turns on their cricketing investments. et, the amount of time available to play it is can be seen at thecricketcouch.com
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