BCCI says no to ICC's plans of having T20 World Cup every year

Time and again, the world of cricket has seen BCCI and ICC at loggerheads with each other and it could happen once again. The soon-to-be-elected BCCI body could be involved in a battle with the ICC as the latter’s proposed Futures Tours Programme (FTP) could significantly hit Indian cricket board’s revenue stream.

In a new proposal, the ICC has put forward the idea of hosting the World T20 every year and 50-over World Cup every three years. There are views that ICC wants to change the FTP in order to enter the global media rights markets for the 2023-2028 period before BCCI and exhaust the lion’s share of revenues from potential broadcasters such as Star Sports.

Thus, the new BCCI body will have its task cut out right from the onset. Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly is looking set to take over as the new president. On the other hand, Jay Shah, son of Home Minister Amit Shah, will be the secretary of the board.

The ICC and its member bodies prepare the FTP calendar separately for a five-year period. The calendar contains the bilateral series as well as the ICC events. According to Hindustan Times, the draft proposal for the post 2023 period was mooted at the recent ICC Chief Executives Meeting. However, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri has categorically told his ICC counterpart Manu Sawhney in an email that the move will not receive support from the Indian board.

How the new proposal could affect the BCCI

A senior BCCI official gave an explanation on how the ICC’s proposal could affect the BCCI’s revenues. He went on to say that the ICC wants to attack BCCI’s revenue stream with their new plan. The official further urged the Ganguly-Shah duo to act swiftly to deal with the issue.

“For example, Star Sports or Sony (hypothetically) has a budget of Rs 100 for investment in broadcast rights (TV, radio, digital). There are two big players — ICC and BCCI with their bouquet of events. BCCI has IPL and its marquee home bilateral series (without Pakistan).

“A World T20 every year is an enticing proposal and if ICC enters the market first, a major player would be thinking of exhausting its lion’s share of broadcast budget in buying ICC rights.

“If the broadcaster spends Rs 60 on buying ICC rights for 2023-28 period, then when BCCI enters the market, the company will have may be Rs 40 in its pocket. I see it as an attempt to attack BCCI’s revenue stream. It’s up to Ganguly and Jay Shah to deal with this issue,” the senior official was quoted as saying by the news outlet.

Meanwhile, Rahul Johri has made it clear that the BCCI cannot agree or confirm to the post 2023 ICC events and the proposed additional ICC events. He said that there are different roadblocks in front of the officials ahead of agreeing to ICC’s plans. The first issue is the BCCI elections as Johri said that the new board will take care of the matter. He also said that the BCCI “is committed to fulfil all its bilateral commitments with the fellow full members.”

Johri also warned that increasing ICC events “will have wide ranging repercussions on bilateral cricket”. He also pointed out it could increase players’ workload, writing, “The player workload management needs to be analysed and it is essential for the ICC Cricket Committee to be involved in this matter.”

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