Cashed-Up India’s Slice Of The ICC’s Financial Pie Should Be Reduced, Says Former Pakistan Cricket Boss

Cash rich India’s stranglehold of the International Cricket Council’s financial pot should cease and replaced by a more equitable model involving parity among Full Members, says former ICC chair and ex-Pakistan cricket boss Ehsan Mani.

In the aftermath of the IPL’s jaw-dropping $6 billion media deal, there was much anticipation over how much the ICC’s broadcast rights would fetch for the Indian market during the 2024-27 cycle of events. It did not disappoint with Disney Star winning the media rights with a mega $3 billion composite (TV + digital) bid for four years, which in a major surprise they then sub-licensed the television component to ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.

It all means there will be more money to throw around as the ICC’s pie grows larger, but no one quite knows how it will be divided – a source of much contention and division in the past.

In the ICC’s current cycle surplus from 2015-2023, according to documents seen, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) receive $371 million well ahead of England ($127 million) while seven Full Members headed by power Australia are allocated $117 million.

“India should get what the other Full Members receive,” Mani, who was ICC chair from 2003-06 and stepped down from the Pakistan Cricket Board last year, told me. “There shouldn’t be two classes of Full Membership. Either you’re a Full Member or not.”

After its jaw-dropping IPL broadcast rights deal, the BCCI keeps on getting richer and more powerful although they’ve argued in the past that it deserves the lion share of funding due to being the undisputed money-spinner of cricket.

“There are two ways to go about it. India should take the same amount as other Full Members or their amount should be frozen for the next eight years to let the other countries catch up in that time frame,” said Mani, who was an architect of the ICC’s media rights deal when he was chair of the finance committee.

Due to the ICC unbundling the rights and selling them into separate territories, a decision described as “innovative” by Mani, there will be more deals ahead with the U.S, U.K. and Australian markets likely to be finalized by the end of the year. They will add to the ICC’s swelling coffers and that’s not yet accounting for the hectic 2027-31 period, where even more ICC events are scheduled.

While there will naturally be a bump across the board even if the current distribution model ensues, it looms as a golden opportunity to seriously pump money into cash-stricken and developing countries – some of whom are being incentivized to start T20 franchise leagues through the aid of deep pockets from IPL backers.

Under the current funding model, Zimbabwe, who are not in the nine-team World Test Championship, receive $86 million and newest Full Members Afghanistan and Ireland are granted $37 million each. Associates, who have 96 members but don’t have Test status and are reserved just three seats on the all-powerful ICC board, receive a relatively paltry $180 million.

The so-called ‘Big Three’ of India, Australia and England have coveted billion-dollar broadcast deals that would withstand any reduction in their ICC funding.

By comparison Zimbabwe has a minuscule broadcast deal of around $1 million a year, while Ireland has a relatively lean Test slate in the next cycle of the Future Tours Programme as it awaits negotiation of the forthcoming ICC distribution model. Hosting Test cricket costs Cricket Ireland around 500,000 Euros and it’s a format they’ve had to reluctantly consign into the backdrop behind the shorter formats due to a lack of funding.

“India have done a fantastic deal on the IPL’s media rights. But the ICC’s leadership have to persuade India to look at the larger interests of the game,” Mani said. “That conversation needs to be had otherwise teams like West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ireland, Zimbabwe have no future and can’t afford to play Test cricket.

“Associates should have a much higher share than they have now. It’s difficult for them to progress unless they have resources. The ICC has to put money in the development of the game.

“There needs to be strategic and intellectual thinking in what is important for the ICC and the game of cricket.”

Serious negotiations over the next revenue model is expected after the chair election in November. Potential candidates are unknown although current chair Greg Barclay has signalled his intention to stay for another term, while BCCI chief Jay Shah is a possible contender.

While it remains murky over who might take the reins, there is optimism that the current ICC board has the right intentions. “There is a lot more emphasis and focus on development and being more equitable than was the case before,” said a source close to the board.

“But there will be more clarity once the chair is determined.”