ICC to restart Cricket Australia media rights sale

The International Cricket Council (ICC), which had halted the process of Australia media rights sales last year due to domestic mandates Down Under, is set to restart it. Notably, the process had stopped after tender issuance in September 2022 as Cricket Australia aimed to market its own media rights. 

The ICC had previously completed the task in India, following which it had released the Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the markets of US, Canada, the Caribbean and Australia.

"Following the successful conclusion of the Indian market media rights tender, the ICC is starting the next phase of its media sales process across targeted markets, including the USA," the ICC had issued this statement on 28th September 2022 in a media release.

Since the release of the statement, the global governing body has finished sales in the US, Canada and the West Indies, although the names of the broadcast partners in said markets have not been disclosed. However, unlike the said territories, Australia is one of ICC's most major markets, which meant the global apex body wanted complete focus of the market players in country.

Furthermore, the ICC, in a bid to expand on its business, has started communication with broadcasters from countries like South Africa and the UK, who also happen to be some of the biggest markets of the global body. Industry experts opine that with a four-year deal worth $3 billion with Star and Zee, the contribution of the Indian market to the ICC revenue could go beyond 80 per cent from the current level at 70%.

With regards to the new Cricket Australia's rights deal, signed with existing partners Foxtel Group and Seven West Media for 2024-31, the worth is $1.512 billion, "a 10.5 per year cash uplift on the current six-year deal signed in 2018 and represents a 16 per cent uplift on the previous agreement based on comparative volume of content," as per a Cricbuzz report.