ICC cuts BCCI’s revenue by 34 per cent

Dubai: The BCCI will earn $290 million from ICC revenues in the 2015-2023 rights cycles under the new financial model proposed by the ICC. A report on espncricinfo.com said the figure, according to a BCCI member familiar with the numbers, is the net amount of earning and amounts to a 34% cut from what would have been their net earning under the Big-Three model. The net earning in the previous proposed model that former ICC chairman N. Srinivasan worked out was $450 million. In principle, the ICC Board voted in favour of passing a new constitution in a meeting in Dubai on Saturday. But the BCCI voted against it, after initially asking for the vote to be deferred to April, and the reduced revenue was its biggest bone of contention — the BCCI believes it should be earning in the region of $400 million in any financial model. According to the ICC’s old revenue distribution formula used between 2007 and 2015 — before the Big Three — the Full Members stood to gain an equal share of a surplus revenue of $525 million: each member received approximately $52.5 million. Under the new proposal, the BCCI stood to make $290 million as the highest earning Full Member — a 452% increase from the earlier TV rights cycle. According to an official privy to the discussions, Shashank Manohar’s point of contention was about why the BCCI wanted more when it was already getting more than it did under the old distribution. The BCCI’s preferred figure was $450 million under the existing Big Three’s financial model, an 757% increase as opposed to the 452% increase currently calculated. So far the Big Three financial model had been in operation for the early stages of the 2015-2023 cycle, and only one ICC event of financial benefit to the Full Members had taken place so far — the 2016 World T20. The contribution cost payment due from that event was held back because of the uncertainty over the model.