K Shriniwas Rao

As much as the Indian Premier League has made the BCCI richer over the last 10 years, it is also fast becoming the reason for the cricket board to be potentially looking at a cash outflow of nothing less than INR 4,900 crore going forward, which is a little in excess of USD 750m.

Here’s a break-up of the kind of payments that BCCI could be looking to pay in the near future-

1.INR 2,420 crore: All cases related to the Enforcement Directorate (with regards to the 2009 IPL in South Africa)
2.INR 1,250 crore: Other legal cases and settlements including Kochi Tuskers
3.INR 540 crore: Income Tax
4.INR 600 crore: Service Tax
5.INR 90 crore: Sales Tax/MVAT
6.INR 52.54 crore: Fine slapped by the Competitions Commission of India.

The above break-up does not include the potential penalty that could be levied on individuals with regards to the cases pending with the Enforcement Directorate. That aside, last week, the Supreme Court of India appointed former Justice SN Variava as the arbitrator between BCCI and terminated IPL franchise Sahara Pune Warriors. Former Supreme Court judge RV Raveendran was the arbitrator earlier but had to recuse himself from the case after being appointed on the three-member panel comprising the Justice RM Lodha Committee.

The arbitration involving Sahara Warriors will begin even as the board is busy with another IPL franchise-related arbitration with another sacked franchise, Deccan Chargers. Those in the know of things say “all these arbitrations won’t be making lives easy for those who run the affairs of the cricket board”.

At present it is the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) who are running BCCI and those keeping a hawk eye over their daily operations say “if CoA wants to look into matters like Future Tours Program (FTP) and player salaries – which is not their brief – then they should also be looking into these matters”.

It is ironical that these payments are all related to a property that has become the envy of world cricket over the last10 years. “Whose money is it anyway? For once CoA and BCCI members can agree on one thing: This is not a very pretty picture,” say those in the know of things.

In September this year, Star India Pvt Ltd bought the media rights to the IPL for a massive INR 16,347 crore. With the revenue model of the IPL set to change from 2018 onwards, the money committed by Star, along with other revenues generated from the central pool, will be divided between BCCI and the franchises at a 50:50 sharing ratio over the next five years.

“So let’s say if the total kitty is around INR 18,000 crore – including title rights and other central sponsors – then half of that will go to the franchises. From the 9000 crore of BCCI’s share, they have production costs of the IPL to take care of, money to be shared with state associations and more such expenses. From whatever remains, you are staring at this outflow of cash (4,900 crore),” adds a source in the board.