TAKUDZWA HILLARY CHIWANZA
The new proposed International Cricket Council (ICC) revenue distribution model will see India’s cricket board (Board of Control for Cricket in India - BCCI) getting the lion’s share of the game’s revenues, as it is set to receive around 40% of the ICC’s net surplus earnings.
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| PIC - NewZimbabwe.com |
This will effectively make India the ‘Big One’ in the ICC for the next four-year cycle of revenue distribution.
The proposed finance model, as first seen by ESPNCricInfo, will allot $230 million/year to India (38.50% share). England Cricket Board (ECB) follows on the distribution chain with $41.33 million/year (6.89% share).
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), which is the governing body [and board] for cricket in Zimbabwe, will get $17.64 million/year.
ZC is a full member of the ICC; and in both domestic and international cricket games/tournament it fields both the men’s and women’s teams.
Given the recent good form of Zimbabwe Cricket’s national teams, both men and women, as well as the vibrancy of domestic cricket and its structures, it would have been quite plausible to allocate a more sizeable share for ZC. The same even goes for Ireland, which is a full ICC member. $18 million for these countries is a paltry allocation.
What ZC will earn under the new ICC revenue distribution model is amounts to a 2.94% share of the total ICC earnings.
And here’s what other ICC members will get per year:
Afghanistan - $16.82 million (2.80% share).
Australia - $37.53 million (6.25% share)
Bangladesh - $26.74 million (4.46% share)
Ireland - $18.04 million (3.01 % share)
New Zealand - $28.38 million (4.73% share)
Pakistan - $34.51 million (5.75% share)
Sri Lanka - $27.12 million (4.52% share)
West Indies - $27.50 million (4.58% share)
In total, full members will get $532.84 million (88.81% share) while associate members will get $67.16 million (11.19% share) on an annual basis. All figures are in United States Dollars.
As India gets the bigger portion, in such disproportionate terms, some arguments abound. One is that India is the biggest cricket market, and that it generates the biggest revenue, hence it should get the bigger portion of the earnings. That everyone else is being a cry-baby and should also add meaningfully to the ICC’s coffers.
And another argument is that with this model, surely ICC wants to see all international cricket failing.
Another is that the ICC does not care about associate members at all and is totally averse to their growth; that ICC is inimical to the growth of the game on an international level. Others insist that some sort of equality—or a semblance of that concept—should prevail; that certainly, there must be a better way to distribute revenue.
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