BCCI not paying cricketers their share of earnings from broadcast rights

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has always been in the news for all the wrong reasons off late. This time they have been accused of not paying the Indian cricketers their share of earnings from broadcast rights. The players are eligible to receive 26% of the share from the broadcast revenue. However, according to Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), the cricketers get just 8% of BCCI’s gross revenues as salaries and bonuses.

The actual revenue sharing formula was cleared by the General Body of the board in 2001 and was put into place in 2004 by the then President Jagmohan Dalmiya after the discussions with senior players like Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. The 26% share is meant to be split in three ways- 13% for International cricketers, 10.6% for domestic players and the remaining amount for women and the junior cricketers.

But the Indian board is doling out a whopping 70% of the revenue to state associations and it pays the 26% of the remaining 30% amount to the cricketers which is extremely less. The amount left over is used for stadium construction, infrastructure maintenance and running of the board administration.

Hands of CoA are tied

It has been also learnt that BCCI pays only a meagre percentage of earnings from sponsorship rights and for participating in ICC events to the players. “The CoA has been trying to change the formula for a long time to give players more, but the members are not willing. The cricketers are making a small share. The bigger problem is that the board members who are spending the 70% are unwilling to share details with the CoA. Whenever the CoA points fingers at them, they keep saying that it their money,” the top source told Times of India on Sunday.

The official also cleared that the hands of CoA are tied and they cannot do anything until the General Body of the board takes any action on the matter. However, the top officials of the Indian board agreed that the players weren’t being paid their fair share of the revenue. But they also argued that a player like Virat Kohli then might earn almost Rs 200 Crore per year through BCCI, IPL and the endorsements.

“If cricketers are paid as per the original ratio, they could be banned from doing personal endorsements, like the Australian cricketers. If today the top cricketers are making between Rs 100 crore and Rs 150 crore per year through endorsements, it is because there is no restriction from BCCI,” they said as quoted by TOI and also stated that the state bodies won’t agree to give India cricketers more money.