The BCCI and ICC may well find themselves in the midst of a battle over the world governing body's newly proposed Futures Tours Programme that could significantly cut down the gaps between major events in a cycle and threatens to hit Indian cricket board's revenue stream.
Usually, the world events to be scheduled for the next cycle are pre-announced but now it is learnt the ICC wants to enter the global markets for 2023-28 period with an FTP plan that sees the T20 World Cup take place annually and the 50-over World Cup happen every three years.
A draft proposal of the same was presented at the recent ICC Chief Executives Meeting and BCCI CEO Rahul Johri reportedly in clear terms told his ICC counterpart Manu Sawhney via an email that the move "will not be prudent" because of multiple reasons.
"For example, Star Sports or Sony (hypothetically) has a budget of Rs 100 for investment in broadcast rights (TV, radio, digital). There are two big players -- ICC and BCCI with their bouquet of events. BCCI has IPL and its marquee home bilateral series (without Pakistan)," a BCCI official was quoted as saying by the PTI.
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"A World T20 every year is an enticing proposal and if ICC enters the market first, a major player would be thinking of exhausting its lion's share of broadcast budget in buying ICC rights."
"If the broadcaster spends Rs 60 on buying ICC rights for 2023-28 period, then when BCCI enters the market, the company will have may be Rs 40 in its pocket. I see it as an attempt to attack BCCI's revenue stream. It's up to Ganguly and Jay Shah to deal with this issue."
Johri gave a five-point explanation of why the BCCI won't be able to agree with ICC's draft FTP proposal.
"At the outset, we would like to inform you that BCCI cannot agree or confirm to the post 2023 ICC events and the proposed additional ICC events at this stage," Johri wrote with the first point being "BCCI elections being underway" and the "new board members will deliberate on the issue" before a final decision is taken.
Secondly, the BCCI "is committed to fulfil all its bilateral commitments with the fellow full members."
The third and fourth points, Johri mentioned, is that the working group (comprising CEOs of member boards) didn't delve on the matter properly and a decision of such magnitude, in that case, will not only be "premature" but it would also mean that "correct procedures have not been followed".
And of course, if implemented, the plan "will have wide ranging repercussions on bilateral cricket." Besides, the players' workload is of "essential" concern to the BCCI.
"The player workload management needs to be analysed and it is essential for the ICC Cricket Committee to be involved in this matter," added Johri, wanting the proposal to be vetted because the ICC revenue may be big, it also remains "only a part of the total cricket revenue generated" by the rest of cricket fraternity.
(Inputs from PTI)
