BCCI VS ICC

BCCI set to send show-cause to ICC

by K Shriniwas Rao • Last updated on

ICC has offered BCCI a compensation of $ 100 million after proposing a reduced share in revenue © Getty

The Indian cricket board is working on the idea of sending a show-cause notice to the International Cricket Council (ICC) post the May 7 Special General Meeting (SGM). TOI has learned that the BCCI will send the notice to the ICC petitioning why it should not use its rights and privileges under the Members Participation Agreement (MPA) and wait for the governing body's reply.

Sources say it is unlikely that a call will be taken - neither by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) nor the BCCI office-bearers - on announcing the team for the Champions Trophy until the notice is sent. No decision will be taken at the SGM on whether to play the Champions Trophy or opt out. Those in the know of things say that the show-cause will be enough to send out the message and "200% it'll be sent."

The show-cause is certainly bound to raise an alarm in the cricket industry because of the many stakeholders in the game - including the ICC's global broadcasters for the Champions Trophy - waiting to know what call India takes on the issue after being snubbed at the ICC meeting. Technically, once the show-cause is received, the ICC's mandate will be to forward it to its disputes committee for an arbitration, involving the ICC chairman and the aggrieved board, which is the BCCI.

"If BCCI does not send the notice, then it's either agreeing to what is being offered by ICC and its chairman Shashank Manohar or it's mea culpa (acknowledgement that they're wrong)," an official in the know of things said.

BCCI offered to safeguard revenues

In what is now coming out as a startling revelation of developments that took place at the ICC board meeting this week, BCCI's acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary - India's representative at the meeting - presented a paper to the member boards of the governing body on April 26, suggesting an amiable way to bring an end to the stand-off. The paper was submitted to ICC's acting legal head Iain Higgins, who in turn presented it before ICC's independent chairman Shashank Manohar. "Manohar brushed aside the letter and ignored BCCI's request to engage in a discussion," instead calling for a vote on the policy changes.

"We propose to work towards attaining a scenario," the letter said, going on to add that the governing body should allow India - by way of what it brings to the table in terms of revenue and clout - to retain their share on the lines of the 2014 model. The letter also iterated that India would work towards ensuring that remuneration for all other member boards would be on the lines of the proposed 2016 model.

The letter states: "After engaging with the other boards' representatives... it is proposed that the decision with regard to the proposed changes to the governance model and the revenue model is deferred in order to.... (help) BCCI engage with the other members of ICC and to take a new proposal and place it before the board of the ICC."

A) The revenues as indicated for the member boards in the proposed 2016 model, except India, be attained.

B) The share of revenue for BCCI as proposed in the 2014 model be secured with BCCI taking the lead in finding a pathway for plugging the gap in revenue shortfall.

C) The changes to the governance structure will need to be discussed but not limited to the inclusion of any other members as members in the present rights cycle.

D) A working group to be created with the inclusion of India and other full members to come up with a solution within a given time frame and which could be agreeable to all the members.

After Manohar took over at the ICC, one of his decisions last year was to not involve India in the governing body's working group meetings that worked on these policy changes, despite the then president Anurag Thakur objecting to it.

Interestingly, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), the member board that negotiated with the Committee of Administrators (CoA) last month on a "compromise formula", was part of the ICC's working group and voted against India this week.

"So, Bangladesh sits in the working group to decide what India should earn and CoA does the talking on behalf of BCCI's state units," a senior administrator said. "The CoA wants to give India's share of revenue to Ireland and Afghanistan to develop their cricket at the cost of causing Indian board and the state exchequer a loss. That's quite some logic.

"They (CoA) obviously wouldn't mind ignoring the fact that unlike other sports that depend on government infrastructure, BCCI has funded its own infrastructure over the years - and for other member countries - only because of the revenue it generates through the game."

Here's BCCI's big grouse in the present context: Is the money being distributed overnight? What's the hurry? Can't the chairman of the ICC wait and discuss it?

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