The BCCI declined Manohar’s offer of an extra $100 million
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Amitabh Choudhary, the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) acting secretary, has said that the board should receive a larger portion of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) revenue.
Under the ICC’s new financial model, the BCCI will earn $293 million instead of the $570 million they got during the Big Three reign.
In an attempt to keep the BCCI happy, ICC chairman Shashank Manohar offered the board $100 million more to bring their share of revenue to nearly $400 million.
However, the BCCI declined as Choudhary claims that the Indian market is responsible for 70 per cent of the global cricket revenue.
When asked why he refused to take the ICC’s offer, Choudhary told the Indian Express: “Because it is far less than what India deserves fairly. Why do you forget that a disproportionate share of revenues to cricket comes from India? It’s very easy and misleading to say that India is getting a disproportionate share.
“The facts are that over 70 per cent of cricket’s revenue world over comes from the Indian market. That [the $293 million offered by the ICC] is not even close to the contribution that India makes.”
Meanwhile, India failed to submit their squad for the Champions Trophy by the April 25 deadline, which has sparked speculation that they could pull out of the tournament.
According to Choudhary, the decision to withdraw from the competition will be the BCCI’s decision and have nothing to do with the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA).
If India are serious about not playing at the Champions Trophy, they will have to revoke their Members Participation Agreement (MPA).
As of now, no decisions have been taken, but the BCCI will hold a special general body meeting on May 7.
Speaking about the situation, COA chairman Vinod Rai said that boycotting the event is “hypothetical” for the time being, while Ramachandra Guha, who is also part of the COA, added that pulling out would do more harm than good.
“Speaking in my personal capacity, as a cricket fan, I believe the Indian cricket team absolutely must take part in the Champions Trophy,” Guha said via Twitter. “Boycotting or threatening to boycott a prestigious international tournament does not become a great cricketing nation.”