BCCI could lose $180-190 million in new ICC revenue model

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to lose anything between $180-190 million (around R 1270 crore), according to the revised revenue sharing model floated by ICC chief Shashank Manohar. A report in ESPNCricinfo says BCCI were supposed to get $440-445 million (around R 2973.5 crore) over eight years in the 2015-2023 cycle, according to the financial model proposed by N Srinivasan in 2014.
The revised model pegs BCCI’s share at around $255-260 million (approximately R 1737.2 crore) across eight years.
The slash in India’s share is the highest among all the Test nations but despite the new model, BCCI will remain the highest earner. However, the move confirms BCCI’s fears were not unfounded. The ICC has agreed ‘in principle’ to implement the new model with most full member associations voting in favour of it. A final decision on the subject will be taken in April.
At that time, it was said that BCCI contributed almost 80% of ICC’s profits and hence the change suggested by Manohar who took it upon himself to prioritise changing the revenue model.
For the uninitiated, the ICC had been operating under the ‘Big Three’ revenue model since 2014, when Srinivasan was the chairman. According to that model, the top three cricket boards – BCCI, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) – got a lion’s share of the revenue on the basis that they generate majority of the world cricket body’s income.
BCCI’s loss
In the new model however, the BCCI’s share is said to be reduced to 10 to 10.2%. So if ICC earns $2.5 billion, the Indian cricket board would now get around $255 million to $260 million.
This percentage is again based on the fact that BCCI generates the most revenue among all cricket associations. BCCI’s Committee of Adeministrators (COA) member Vikram Limaye however has recently said there was “no scientific basis behind the percentage distribution allocation that was being proposed other than good faith and equity.”
Earlier model
The ‘Big Three’ were entitled to a certain percentage of the total revenue – 20.3% for BCCI, 4.4% for ECB and 2.7% for CA — according to the old model. Along with this, the surplus was to be divided equally among all member associations. So, for the ICC earning revenue of $2.5 billion, BCCI’s would get anything around $440 million to $500 million.
The only share the Big Three weren’t supposed to get was an additional $10 million for the rest of the seven members as part of the Test Cricket Fund.
The share of England has also decreased, but not as significantly as the BCCI. Earlier, ECB would have got between $145-150 million (approximately R 1002.1 crore) but now its earning may go down to $120-125 million (approximately R 835 crore).
Australia’s share would stay more or less the same in the current revenue model and would earn around $100-115 million (approximately R 768.2 crore).
Other boards’ gain
The real beneficiaries of the current revenue model would be the other members like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies and Bangladesh. All six members would now get approximately $110-115 million, the same as Australia.
Zimbabwe gets a hike of around $5 million (approximately R 33.3 crore) from their earlier quota of $70-75 million (approximately R 501 crore) across eight years while Afghanistan and Ireland are the new entrants in the club with a share of $50-55 million (approximately R 367.3 crore).