The International Cricket Council (ICC) has proposed a new revenue sharing model for the 2024-27 cycle that will be voted on at the July board meeting in Durban.
According to figures leaked to Cricinfo, cricket’s financial engine India will claim 38.5%, mostly in recognition of its contribution to the commercial revenue bank.
The 12 active members of the ICC will collectively receive 88.81%, with the remainder to be distributed among the 94 associate members.
The ICC has not commented on the numbers, although General Manager Waseem Khan said Monday that under the proposed model, all members would receive more money than in the past.
Pakistan has already made it clear that it opposes the model in its current form, and discontent is raging among other, less developed, cricketing nations.
Sumod Damodar, one of the three associate member representatives on the ICC Chief Executives Committee, has said that the proposal does not meet the needs of the associate members.
If what is being proposed and discussed is the result, I, as a representative of the associate members, will be (disappointed), he told Reuters.
There are many practical reasons why this would be inadequate for associate members.
Damodar, Botswana’s vice chairman of the board, said that associate members who have achieved One-Day International (ODI) status need more money to maintain their high performance programs, while the rest need money to fill the gap.
Citing the rapid growth of Nepal in men’s cricket and Thailand in women’s cricket, Damodar said even more countries would step up if they were given the necessary financial support.
Vanuatu Cricket Association executive director Tim Cutler said the proposed model would only increase inequality between the haves and have-nots in cricket.
The new model is now even more weighted in favor of the big cricketing nations, and there is a risk that the proposed changes will exacerbate this imbalance, putting the future of the game at even greater risk, Cutler told Reuters.
The sad reality is that cricket will not develop beyond its current corners of the world…unless the distribution of the game’s global funds is more evenly distributed to really develop the game.
147251Since active members have 12 of the 17 votes on the ICC board, Cutler said diverting funds away from themselves or creating independent organizations could cause the game to grow.decisions for the good of the game would be like turkeys voting for Christmas.
The ICC did not respond to a request for comment when asked about the concerns of associate members.
Stronger and Richer
Former ICC president Ehsan Mani said the governing body lacked foresight in its approach to developing cricket countries, despite the huge commercial potential of some of them.
One of the biggest risks to world cricket is its over-reliance on one country, India, which generates most of its revenue, the former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board told Reuters.
Countries like the U.S., the Middle East and, in the longer term, China would bring enormous benefits to the ICC, its members and the world game. World cricket will become stronger and richer from this.
In Mani’s view, India getting the lion’s share of ICC revenues makes no sense, and he favors equal shares for all full members.
World cricket needs a strong West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, he added.
Cricket in Zimbabwe is suffering because of lack of funds, as in Ireland and Afghanistan. The lack of investment in some of these countries will make the game unsustainable, and world cricket will become poorer as a result.