Kolkata: The BCCI struck a deal with the ICC with the revenue amount to be received by the former being fixed at $405 million. This has pleased Vinod Rai, the chief of Committee of Administrators who praised the efforts of BCCI Chief Executive Officer Rahul Johri and Acting Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary for making this deal possible.
“Whole lot of things were discussed, firstly people must acknowledge that the team of Rahul johri and Amitabh Chaudhary, who went and attended meeting on behalf of BCCI, have done very well over there. In the governance model, a lot of our suggestions have been accepted,” Rai said.
He also said the Indian cricketing board made a good deal with the ICC and that the earlier reports of the former receiving $293 million in the period between 2016-2023 was wrongly quoted.
He said, “I have maintained all along we should not have been chasing USD 50 million or USD 40 million. It has been reported wrongly also that it is 293 million dollars per annum; no it is today 405 million over 8 years. Just imagine we have been fighting for USD 10 million on that we were willing to withdraw from the champion’s trophy. So, these issues have been played totally out of proportion. I think we have done a very good deal from the ICC.”
While the Committee of Administrators seems to pleased with this deal, former BCCI president N Srinivasan did not take a liking to the same and is expected to express his disappointment at the Special General Meeting (SGM) on Monday. The ,’Big Three’ arrangement of revenue distribution, which was done away with was Srinivasan’s own creation.
Srinivasan would represent the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) as the executive member of the body at the BCCI’s Special General Meeting would express his views on the revised revenue model. During his meeting with the CoA on Sunday, some glimpses of what his argument would possibly be regarding the new revenue model was seen.
A source said , “When the CoA brought up the topic of the BCCI finally agreeing to the revised ICC revenue, Srinivasan made it clear that he has a few things to say, which he will in the SGM and not in front of the CoA.”
This directly puts the Committee of Administrators and Srinivasan on a collision course and thus, with this division of opinion on this new revenue model, Indian cricket could witness another major conflict. The SGM on Monday thus becomes very important as it would reveal what exactly Srinivasan has in mind about the revised model and whether the Vinod Rai led CoA would oppose it or not.
Also, issues like the one-state-one-vote policy, the three selector policy, the nine year tenure at the state and the BCCI among others would be discussed at the SGM on Monday.