BCCI says demand for larger profit share from ICC 'legitimate'

Board of Control for Cricket in India’s secretary Sanjay Patel on Tuesday confirmed that the demand for a larger share of the revenue earned by the International Cricket Council had been made by India.

BCCI president N Srinivasan is spearheading the process to convince the full members, comprising the 10 Test-playing nations of the ICC, to accept the formula wherein the BCCI will receive a bigger share of the profits generated than the other Boards.

“Our share should be proper and just. BCCI will always raise the question which so far has not been done. President Srinivasan has done a wonderful job on the study of this. It is for the first time that we have thought of this after studying all the data and financial research of ICC.

“According to president Srinivasan, myself and other guys, we have worked out good options and those options have been discussed,” said Patel, in Mumbai.

The ICC's profit-sharing model is as follows: 75 percent of the profits are equally divided among full-member nations, like India, Australia, Sri Lanka, England, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa and Zimbabwe, while the remaining 25 percent is distributed among the associate members.

The BCCI believes that since it generates close to 75 percent of the income for the governing body, it should be given a bigger share.

However, Patel denied claims that the BCCI is again using his financial clout to undermine the ICC and other Boards.

“It is not muscle twisting, but it is our legitimate issue. It is not the question of something we are doing out of the way. Unfortunately, no one raised this issue in the past on part of the BCCI,” he said.

Srinivasan met Cricket Australia chairman Walter Edwards in Singapore last week to discuss the profit-sharing model between the member nations of the ICC. The meeting took place at the same time when the eight franchises of the Indian Premier League had a two-day workshop in Singapore to discuss the modalities of the upcoming editions of the T20 tournament.

Patel is confident that the other members will back the BCCI on the issue.

“The members will support because it is the question of legitimate support. In the past it has never been raised, so it took some time to discuss and it is still under discussion, but we are quite hopeful that the result will be absolutely in favour of the BCCI,” he said.

BCCI chief Srinivasan has taken a personal interest in the matter and is pushing all the members to back the Indian Board’s claims.

“Since last year president Srinivasan was looking into the financial data of the ICC. Whatever private study he has made on what could be the contribution of the BCCI for the revenue of the ICC on basis of that, some formulas have been discussed amongst us, with some professionals of that line and his acumen as a businessman has also helped us,” he said.