PIL filed against BCCI's alleged plans to accept lower contribution cost from ICC

The petitioners allege BCCI has agreed to a downward revision of its revenue from ICC

The Madras High Court has adjourned a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) forbidding it from accepting any amount lower than what it agreed to receive from the International Cricket Council (ICC) as contribution cost. The petitioners sought for adjournment to decide whether they can move the matter in another forum, since the Court said that the matter could not be considered as a PIL, according to sources.

The development comes in a PIL filed by former Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) R K Raghavan and seven others, alleging that the BCCI President Sashank Manohar has obtained approval from the Board to renegotiate a downward revision of BCCI's revenue at the ICC level, from the agreed 21 per cent, which according to the petitioner, is around Rs 3,400 crore for the period 2015-23.

The court, while hearing the petition, observed that there is no public issue involved, following which the counsel for petitioners sought time to discuss with his clients on whether they can take the matter in any relevant forum as civil suit, said sources.

According to the petition filed, a copy of which is available with Business Standard, the petitioners sought direction from the Court forbearing BCCI from agreeing to receive any amount lower than the agreed contribution costs as per the member particpation agreement for the broadcast cycle for the periods 2015-23 and 2024-31 for the participation of the Indian cricket team in the matches and events conducted by the ICC.

The petitioners, in the PIL, said that as per the participation agreement signed by the BCCI, the cricket board would be entitled to 21 per cent of the gross revenue of ICC for the cycle 2015-23 for a minimum revenue of $2.5 billion or above and no less for the cycles 2023-31.However, they alleged that during the special general meeting of the BCCI on February 19, 2016, apart from discussing the Justice Lodha Committee report, the Board approved to negotiate a downward revision of BCCI's revenue at the ICC level. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) has wrote to the BCCI against this move.

They further stated that the income of ICC for each cycle is not a fixed figure and what is clearly ascertainable is only the income of ICC from the broacast rights. The broadcast revenue to the ICC was estimated to be in the range between $900-925 million for the Rights cycle 2007-15 and the sponsorship revenue was estimated between $600-650 million for the same period. It was reported that the media rights income for 2015-23 cycle has fetched $1.9 billion and that the broadcast rights for the cycle 2015-23 has more than doubled from the previous cycle.

On a modest estimate of sponsorship revenue matching sponsorship income from the previous cycle, the sum total revenue for the cyele 2015-23 will exceed $2.5 billion, which at current conversion rate comes to more than Rs 16,750 crore. 20.3 per cent of that some due to India for its participation in the ICC events for the cycle is Rs 3,400 crore.

"A reduction of 6 per cent for the current cycle would mean India receives Rs 1,000 crore less," said the petition. It also alleged that the contribution cost payable to BCCI for the cycle 2023-31 is pegged at beyond Rs 6,000 crore and based on historical data, a six per cent reduction would cost higher during the cycle for BCCI.

By the mandate given by BCCI to its president, he can single handedly negotiate downward revision for India upto Rs 3,000 crore for these cycles, it alleged.

The petitioners submitted that according to an agreement between ICC and its members, 75 per cent of the revenue after the event costs, will be distributed to 10 full Test playing members equally and 25 per cent to the Associated members. They added that the Indian audience is one of the largest for the cricket matches organised by ICC and thus, BCCI has to be offered its rightful share.

The petitioners, apart from Raghavan, include former international one day cricket umpire C R Vijayaraghavan, former Ranji Trophy cricketer T Karunamoorthy and secretary of Dharmapuri Cricket Association K S Srinivasan.