Haq's Musings

Riaz Haq writes this data-driven blog to provide information, express his opinions and make comments on many topics. Subjects include personal activities, education, South Asia, South Asian community, regional and international affairs and US politics to financial markets. For investors interested in South Asia, Riaz has another blog called South Asia Investor at http://www.southasiainvestor.com and a YouTube video channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkrIDyFbC9N9evXYb9cA_gQ

Showing posts with label BCCI. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

India-Pakistan Cricket Match: The Biggest Single Event in the World of Sports

Why did Pakistan's decision to boycott the India-Pakistan match in solidarity with Bangladesh in this year's T20 World Cup send shockwaves around the world? And why did it trigger the International Cricket Council's and other cricket boards' urgent efforts to persuade Pakistan to return to the match? The reason has a lot to do with its massive financial impact, estimated to be as much as $500 million in this tournament alone. The ICC projects an average annual revenue of roughly $600 million in the current cycle from 2024 to 2027. The international cricketing body calls India, England and Australia "The Big Three" in the current revenue sharing formula. The reality is that India and Pakistan are "The Big Two" in terms of their revenue contributions from ICC events.

The current dispute arose when the ICC, currently headed by the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah's son Jay Shah, replaced Bangladesh by Scotland in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup after it refused to play their matches in India, citing security concerns. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) demanded a move to Sri Lanka, but the ICC rejected this, finding no credible threat, and formally removed Bangladesh from the tournament on January 24, 2026. Pakistan jumped in at this point to show solidarity with Bangladesh in its right to refuse to play in India based on its perception of security threat to its players. This forced the ICC to visit Pakistan to end its boycott based on assurances that Bangladesh will not be penalized for the current T20 tournament in terms of denial of its share of the ICC revenue. Bangladesh was also guaranteed hosting rights to an ICC event between now and 2031.

India-Pakistan cricket matches consistently draw the biggest crowds and the largest TV viewerships than any other single sporting event anywhere. The 2025 Champions Trophy match between India and Pakistan set new digital records with 602 million viewers on JioHotstar. Compare this with the 2026 US Super Bowl match that was seen by 125 million people.

The urgency with which the international sports body addressed it clearly established the massive leverage Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has in negotiating the terms of its participation in the ICC international tournaments. It also showed that Pakistan has not yet fully exercised this leverage to get a larger share of the ICC revenue. Currently, Pakistan is the fourth-largest recipient from the International Cricket Council (ICC), receiving a 5.75% share of the total revenue, which amounts to approximately $35–38 million annually under the 2024-27 cycle. India receives 38.5% of the ICC, the highest of all members, followed by England's 6.9% and Australia's 6.25%. Other full members receive 2-5% each while all the associate members together get 11%.

If left unresolved, the dispute could have major financial ramifications for all of cricket, as the ICC’s $3 billion Indian media rights deal for 2024-27 with JioStar (a joint venture of Viacom18 and Disney Star) is largely predicated on India facing Pakistan every year in a global tournament, meaning each one is worth roughly $500m, according to The Guardian newspaper. Any reduction in the value of the ICC’s media rights, or a rebate from the current deal, would have major ramifications for all member nations of the ICC (International Cricket Council).

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Pakistan Cricket Board's $43 Million Revenue and Budget

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spends about $43 million on national and international cricket every year, according to media reports. It receives about $16.5 million a year share from the International Cricket Council (ICC) as part of the new revenue sharing model while the rest comes from Pakistan Super League (PSL) and multiple bilateral cricket series with other ICC member nations. PCB could earn significantly more if India, with its huge media market, agrees to honor its prior commitments to play bilateral series with Pakistan. PCB has threatened to sue BCCI to recover $200 million in lost revenue since 2007.

ICC Revenue Sharing:

Under a new deal announced by the International Cricket Club (ICC) after its recent board meeting in Dubai, Pakistan's PCB will receive $132 million from 2015 through 2023. India's BCCI will receive $293 million across the eight-year cycle, the ECB $143 million, Zimbabwe Cricket $94 million and the remaining seven Full Members $132 million each. Associate Members will receive total combined funding of $280 million, according to ESPN sports network.

Source: ESPN

The new, more equitable revenue sharing model will replace the "Big Three" financial model drawn up by the boards of India, England and Australia that allocated much larger revenue share to them.

As expected India is not happy with the reduction in its share of the ICC revenue to $ 293 million. While the new distribution model is not a complete rollback to the equal funding from ICC events that Full Members like Pakistan used to receive, it is considerably lower than the $440 million the BCCI stood to earn under the Big Three model. The associate members of ICC would be the biggest losers if the BCCI demand for $440 million was accepted.

India-Pakistan Series:

India, with its massive media market, generates significantly more revenue that any other national cricket team and it has not played a full bilateral series with Pakistan since 2007. PCB had signed an MoU with the BCCI officials in 2014 on the sidelines of an ICC meeting. Under the MoU, Pakistan and India were to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023 but India so far has refused to honor its commitment saying that the Modi government has not given it permission for bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan.

The BCCI has refused even to play Pakistan on neutral venues including Sri Lanka. PCB claims it has lost nearly $200 million because of India's failure to deliver. BCCI has also rejected ICC chief Shashank Manohar's offer of additional $100 million to Pakistan to cover its losses, according to India Today. PCB is now threatening to sue BCCI to recover its losses.

Pakistan Super League:

Pakistan Super League has become a significant source of revenue for PCB since its launch in 2016. The auction of the teams in 2016 generated $18.6 million for PCB in 2016, according to media reports. This year, PCB earned a profit of $2.6 million net after all the expenses of PSL's second season.

PCB Plans:

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said PCB plans to use the money for new cricket academies across the nation and to set up cricket programs at schools and universities and to sponsor cricket clubs. In addition, sports facilities like cricket pitches and grounds will be improved across the country.

Summary:

Pakistan Cricket Board seems to be achieving self-sufficiency and the wherewithal to fund the sport of cricket in Pakistan better than ever before. In addition to the money from the ICC revenue sharing, PCB is also getting a new revenue stream from the PSL to help meet its needs. It's important that the PCB follows through on its plans to support cricket programs at schools and universities and cricket clubs, and to improve sports facilities in the country.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

ICC Big 3: Will Australia, England and India Doom Cricket?

Australia, England and India, the three biggest revenue producing nations in the world of cricket, are seeking to remodel International Cricket Council (ICC) along the lines of the UN Security Council. They are making a naked bid to get more money and power for themselves at the expense of the cricket boards of the rest of the ICC member nations including Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

The "Big 3" Proposal:

The proposals, written by the ICC's Finance, Commercial Affairs (FCA) committee and leaked to the media last week, calls for the formation of a four-person executive committee, on which the representative of boards of Australia, England and India would be guaranteed a seat. Only one representative from the rest of the cricketing nations combined would be selected by the three boards annually.

Would this proposal, if adopted as is, strengthen the sport of cricket? Or would it spell doom for it? Its proponents argue that the new structure would improve governance of world cricket. Cricket Australia Chairman Wally Edwards said " its approach internationally is consistent with its approach at home where we have made significant strides improving the governance of Australian cricket".

The Debate on "Big 3":

Opponents such as former Indian Premier League boss Lali Modi call it "a nail in the coffin for world game". Here are some excepts of what Modi told Hindustan Times:

“It’s a cartel, an unholy trinity and it threatens the future of the game. I’m serious. How can it possibly be good for the other Test playing nations and the associate members that these three line their own pockets. It is a scandal and it must be stopped. “They are going to kill cricket with these proposals. Great, India and England and Australia can play themselves to their heart’s content but they have put every other nation on the bread line.”

“They are saying they should have the power because they can bring greater stability but they don’t explain how they are going to do it. This is cloak and dagger stuff. Where’s the transparency? And then they say that each member will be given revenue share in line with the growth of the ICC. They are just lining their pockets".

“You can read it yourself. It is clear in black and white. Section one, page three, point E and I’ll quote it ‘Ensuring a fair distribution of revenues, recognizing the contribution of each member to the ICC both on and off the field’. The key word there is ‘contribution’. Well, of course Indian ‘contribute’ more in terms of money than Zimbabwe. But this is totalitarian. This is about the rich getting richer and screw the rest".

“Again, a little further down. Same section, same page but point f. ‘The need to streamline bilateral cricket arrangements and ensure the on-going relevance of all these matches to ICC events and the viability of cricket in all relevant markets’. Look, we all know what streamline means in this context. It’s reducing or getting rid all together.”

Successful NFL Model:

The world's most successful sports franchise today is the National Football League (NFL) in the United States. It treats all of its 32 member teams equally with equal vote in decision making. Over 70% of its revenue is shared equally among its member teams.

NFL has a highly lucrative business because of the extraordinary popularity of football in the United States. Over nine years, starting in 2014, CBS, Fox and NBC will together will pay an average of about $3 billion a year, more than 50 percent higher than their prior deals, according to a report in New York Times. Altogether, the four networks, in addition to DirecTV, which pays $1 billion a year for its Sunday Ticket satellite package, will pay the N.F.L. more annually in TV rights than any sports league has ever been paid.

Economics of Sports:

Simon Rottenberg, an economist at University of Chicago, published what is considered as the first significant paper on the subject of the economics of sport, "The Baseball Players' Labor Market" in 1956. He stressed the importance to sporting competition of uncertainty of outcome and distribution of talent: "The nature of the industry is such that competitors must be of approximately equal ‘size’ if any are to be successful; this seems to be a unique attribute of professional competitive sports." This ‘invariance principle’ was because a league in which the strong simply soaked up all the talent would defeat itself.

Summary:

The naked power grab by cricket boards of Australia, England and India is indeed an "Unholy Trinity". It defies the basic economics of sports as described by University of Chicago economist Simon Rottenberg. It results in unequal competition by weakening the majority of the national cricket teams by starving them of needed revenues to train, promote and reward the best and the brightest players. It will badly hurt international cricket. PCB and other cricket boards should strongly oppose it.

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Saturday, July 12, 2008

IPL Mixes Business, Money, Entertainment and Sports

International cricket megastars with large paychecks to match their egos, Bollywood's elite actors, big business magnates, provocatively dressed cheerleaders, the big sports media, huge worldwide audience, deep pocket sponsors all come together to put on spectacular three hour, 2020 games of the two newly formed Indian cricketing leagues.

This is a revolution in the world of cricket, a sleepy, colonial era, gentleman's game that the British brought to their colonies including India and Pakistan. Taking a leaf from the sports leagues in US and Europe, it represents a coming of age for the business of sports in India. According to the New York Times, the Indian billionaires are for the first time staking their prestige on sports teams. The Indian Premier League’s most expensive franchise, at nearly $111.9 million, is the Mumbai Indians, fittingly owned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani. The flamboyant liquor baron Vijay Mallya picked up the Bangalore-based Royal Challengers for $111.6 million, and the actor Shah Rukh Khan is backing the Kolkata Knight Riders for $75.09 million.

Forbes magazine reports that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a nonprofit body controlling the game in the country, has racked up $1 billion to date from selling commercial rights to Indian cricket for the next five years. (One source: Nike paid $45 million to flash its logo on players' apparel and to sell garments to cricket fans.) "It's all about extracting the most value," said Lalit Modi, BCCI's new marketing chief, who hopes to eventually make $1.5 billion from Indian cricket, ten times what BCCI made in the last go-around.

IPL offered contracts to several Pakistani players including Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Muhammad Asif, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Muhammad Yousaf and Inzamam ul Haq.

According to the BBC, the players were offered to the franchisees in an auction process. Australia captain Ponting is among 13 of his compatriots in a pool of international cricketers available to the franchises, which were allowed to spend a maximum of $5m on eight contracted players. There have been recent reports that several top Australian players have been promised the IPL's salary cap will be axed in the future. The biggest stars could then expect IPL contracts of about $15 million. Australian captain Ricky Ponting has opposed this move. "I have certainly heard there may be no salary cap next year but I'm not sure if that will be good for the IPL," Ponting told Australia's Courier Mail. "The more I've thought about it, it might be detrimental to the whole set-up.

The winning bids, which were selected electronically in a sealed room, offered Pakistani players as follows: Shoaib Akhtar $425,000, Younis Khan $225,000, Kamran Akmal $150,000 and Umar Gul $150,000. These amounts are several times larger than the current compensation they receive from PCB.

According to BBC Sports, IPL's top 10 winning auction bids in February were:

Mahendra Dhoni: $1.5m (Chennai)
Andrew Symonds: $1.35m (Hyderabad)
Sanath Jayasuriya: $975,000 (Mumbai)
Ishant Sharma: $950,000 (Kolkata)
Irfan Pathan: $925,000 (Mohali)
Brett Lee : $900,000 (Mohali)
Jacques Kallis: $900,000 (Bangalore)
RP Singh: $875,000 (Hyderabad)
Harbhajan Singh: $850,000 (Mumbai)
Chris Gayle: $800,000 (Kolkata)