The International Cricket Council (ICC) in their annual general meeting held earlier this year, suggested its financial distribution model from 2024-27. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to pocket a cool 38.5% of the total revenue for ICC, which is the most out of any board in the world. This is more than 6 times the share of the ECB (6.89%) and Cricket Australia (6.25%). There were reports that several boards were unhappy with BCCI getting the majority share in revenue. Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar has now suggested a way for the ICC to shut down the 'usual moaners'.
In his column in Sportstar, Sunil Gavaskar wrote that the ICC should conduct a forensic audit of the various boards to whom they give their revenue share. This would determine how the boards spend this money and, hence, nullify the demand of usual moaners to give them more share. Gavaskar also suggested that the various cricket boards are getting more than enough to run the game in the countries and still have some amount of money left over.
“It would be worthwhile to do a forensic audit of where the ICC’s revenue share to the various boards goes. That would be far more revealing and could well nullify the case of giving an additional share to the usual moaners,” Gavaskar wrote.
“Make no mistake, whatever share the various boards are getting is more than enough to run the game in their countries and still have something left over. Depending on getting an increasing share of the ICC pie makes for lazy administration, for then, they just have to enjoy the perks of office without looking to strengthen the game in their country,” the legend added.
There have also been reports that the ICC is planning to set up a separate fund for Test Cricket to ensure the longest format of the game to prosper outside the 'Big Three'. In this case, a player would be guaranteed to receive a minimum match fee of $10,000, from this fund. This would also ensure the home team bears the cost of hotel and internal travel costs of the visiting country during a Test Series. Sunil Gavaskar has welcomed this move.
"It is a good idea for the ICC to suggest that the home team should bear the hotel and internal travel costs of the visiting country’s team. That can be a big relief for some, for sure, and would help them balance their budget to a great extent," Gavaskar further wrote.