CA’s Claims Of Losing Money On The Success Story Of BBL Must Be Independently Investigated, Simon Katich

Jan 13, 2019 at 4:22 PM

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CA’s Claims Of Losing Money On The Success Story Of BBL Must Be Independently Investigated, Simon Katich

Former Australia cricketer Simon Katich has refused to buy the latest claim made by the Cricket Australia of them being generous towards players despite facing heavy losses during the early season of the ambitious Big Bash League (BBL).

CA has claimed losses amounting to close to A$33 million. However, Katich doesn’t find logic in this statement and has called for an independent investigation of the matter.

The players have already called for an independent mediation to resolve the ongoing pay dispute.

“The claims that CA has managed to lose money on the biggest success story in world cricket must be independently investigated,” he said. “Record crowds, record ratings, record sponsorships and merchandising sales each and every year, yet CA are claiming a loss. It defies logic and good business sense.”

Katich words seem to be true, as the Australian cricket board (ACB) made hearty investments in the BBL which was inaugurated in 2011. The growth of the BBL has been massive. The 2015 and 2016 season saw the record number of turnouts.

The numbers suggest that by the end of league’s second season in 2013 CA has reaped an overall profit of A$1.5 million for “domestic T20 operations”. On top of it, the board also bagged a $20 million a season from the five-year broadcast deal with the Ten Network.

The value of the deal is set to increase to up to $60 million a year during the next deal which will be signed during 2018.

“It also defies logic that you would claim a financial loss, yet not recommend a model that shares the risk,” Katich said. “It may well be an ill-conceived negotiation tactic, which itself is silly given mediation is the way to go. The BBL and WBBL provide the best platform to promote cricket to kids and families given they are turning up to these events in their hundreds-of-thousands over the course of the season.”

Katich also suspects that all the money isn’t going towards the grass root investment.

“The recurring question that keeps arising is, where does all the money go?” Katich said. “Is it drained by too much bureaucracy, executive salaries, entitlements and bonuses? One thing is for sure, it’s not drained by either the players or grassroots investments, which together account for less than 30 cents in the dollar. I have called for a cap on CA administrative costs before and this is more evidence of the need for that. And it is also now clear evidence of the need for an independent investigation.”

Cricket Australia’s argument for the newly proposed revenue model is that a considerable amount has to be dedicated toward the game’s development in the country. To enable these activities, the cricket board came up with an idea of scrapping the 1997 revenue model, which was in effect at the moment and bring a new pay structure that offers a fixed offer over the next five years to the players.

This, however, directly meant that the players would be no longer eligible for the fixed percentage that they received from the revenue CA made per annum. The new model also would cut down the salaries of the domestic level cricketers.

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