How BCCI became the most influential cricket board
From once having to pay guarantee money for teams to tour, the Indian team is now the most sought after.
For over a century, cricket’s governing body, ICC, has been on a transformational journey – from Imperial Cricket Council to International Cricket Conference to International Cricket Council.
A tipping point came on Thursday at ICC’s Board meeting in Durban when the financial clout of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was firmed up with 38.5% ($230mn annually) of the global body’s revenue earmarked for them. All other boards, including England, take home revenue in single digit percentages.
It showed how far BCCI had travelled, from when BCCI president NKP Salve wasn’t given two extra tickets for the 1983 World Cup final at Lord’s. Until 1989, the president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (based at Lord’s) automatically assumed the ICC chairmanship.
Things began to change when the astute Jagmohan Dalmiya, as BCCI secretary, won the ICC president’s election in 1997 with the backing of Associate nations. “England and Australia had the veto and they underestimated Dalmiya,” recalls Ratnakar Shetty, the former BCCI administrator.
After Dalmiya won, Bangladesh was awarded Test status, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) was formed and the Asian block that included Pakistan became a force in the ICC boardroom.
While he won the ICC top post to give the Indian board control, Dalmiya also inherited a body in financial distress. That’s when he pushed for launching the Champions Trophy in 1998.
“Dalmiya organised and marketed the tournament so gallantly that at the end of the very first edition of his brainchild, the ICC’s balance sheet shot from almost nil to $6 million. By the time Dalmiya ended his ICC term in 2000, ICC’s wealth rose to $16 million,” former secretary Jaywant Lele wrote in his book.
As India’s consumer spend surged, cricket married commerce. BCCI understood the value it could create through TV rights and sponsorships. In 2005, Nike signed a $43mn deal as Indian cricket team’s kit sponsors. The next year, Nimbus acquired TV rights for Indian cricket for $612mn. The advent of T20 cricket and IPL has only seen those numbers soar.
BIG THREE TO THE BIG ONE
While India’s cricket market grew rapidly, no other cricket nation could match it. Murmurs for a change in ICC’s revenue distribution model – full member boards would share equally 75% of the total revenue – began to be heard. They crystallised into the Big Three financial model in 2013, with BCCI, England’s ECB and Australia’s CA coming together to demand the lion’s share of ICC revenue. BCCI was to get around 31%, but the plan was shelved when former board president N Srinivasan lost power.
“BCCI were right then, and they are right now. It’s the Indian market that brings all the revenue to ICC. They fully deserve a big share,” said former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.
“India’s share was 22.4% in the previous cycle, which is now at 38.5%, a jump of approximately 72%,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote to state units on Friday. “This is a recognition of the significance of India as a nation in world cricket and underlines the fact that the heart of cricket well and truly beats in India.” India’s commercial contribution was assessed at 85%.
Some cricket commentators have raised concerns. “There is a deeper malaise at work here. The economic transformation of India in the past three decades and the growing importance of television revenues have distorted cricket's landscape, making it more unequal and, therefore, in need more than ever of careful strategic thought and leadership. But there has been an absence of this at the ICC,” former England skipper Mike Atherton recently wrote in The Times.
“In the past, when India was struggling, no one spoke about it. The BCCI has worked its way through by creating a market for TV, and now digital rights,” Shetty rebuts. “There was a time, the Indian board had to pay guarantee money for others to come and play. Times have changed. Now, everyone including England and Australia wants the Indian team to tour.
“Without the Indian players, no T20 league outside of IPL generates solid revenue. It is other member boards who must find ways to build their own market.”