BCCI backs ICC overhaul; threatens pulling out of ICC events if proposal not approved

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to exercise its financial muscle over ICC yet again

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has chosen to flex its financial muscle again by levying a threat that their participation in future ICC events will hinge on the approval of the radical draft proposed by the ICC’s executive board.

The BCCI also unanimously backed the ICC proposal which calls for bigger revenues and more executive decision-making powers to the cricket boards of India, Australia, and England. Terming the draft as being “in the interests of cricket at large”, the BCCI, in an emergent meeting called on Thursday, also “authorised the office bearers to enter into agreements with the ICC for participating in the ICC events and hosting ICC events, subject to the proposal being approved by the ICC board”, according to a report from cricinfo.

The BCCI has also authorized its leading officer bearers to sign bilateral agreements with all other Full Member boards, including Pakistan. England and Australia are bound by the new ICC draft to sign legally-binding bilateral agreements with eight Full Members of the ICC, while the BCCI’s proposal covers all the 10-Test playing nations.

The BCCI working committee meeting took place in Chennai on Thursday and was chaired by one of the board’s vice-presidents Shivlal Yadav due to the absence of BCCI president N Srinivasan, who could not be in attendance due to the death of his mother early in the day. Sundar Raman, the IPL chief operating officer, is the one who took centre stage as he explained the details of the proposed draft, outlining the revamp of the ICC and highlighting its necessity. The proposed revenue model, according to which India stood to earn a bigger percentage of the ICC earnings, was also explained to the members.

With the current broadcast agreement running only till the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the ICC is now in a spot of bother as they cannot sign a fresh broadcast deal if BCCI – which has conveyed ICC that no progress would be possible in the deal without the overhaul – refuses to sign the Members Participating Agreement.

“We have never said that it [the draft proposal] was set in stone or a ‘take-it-or-leave it’ proposition,” a BCCI official said. “It is clear that it is a draft and members can discuss it with their respective boards and it can be discussed in the ICC board meeting.”

Cricket South Africa and the Pakistan Cricket Board are reportedly miffed with the new ICC proposal, while the West Indies Cricket Board haven’t taken a stand yet and are believed to be negotiating a deal with the ‘Big Three’ – as the Indian, Australian and English cricket boards are now being referred to.

New Zealand’s cricket board are studying the proposal and have stated that it would be wrong to jump the gun and presume that the proposal is going to be bad for cricket. The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) have expressed their concern at the new proposal which could hand sizable power to the ‘Big Three’.