A file photo from August 21, 2019 shows Bangladesh Premier League franchise Comilla Victorians’ managing director Nafisa Kamal speaking to reporters after a meeting at Mirpur.— BCB photo
All six Bangladesh Premier League franchises have asked for a share of revenue to cover up their expenses during the recent meetings with the Bangladesh Cricket Board but none could come up with a definite proposal, putting the officials in a fix.
Last week the BCB completed the meetings with representatives of six BPL franchises, who are expected to continue in the next few seasons, with the revenue sharing appearing as their most common demand.
‘If they share it, it will not mean we all will become profitable overnight. But we can have mental relief that we are getting something from the board,’ said Rangpur Riders chief executive officer Ishtiaq Sadek.
‘The BCB said they earn Tk 20 to 30 crores from the tournament every year. I don’t see any problem if they give 20 to 30 per cent from it to the franchises,’ he said.
‘Because of us the tournament becomes popular. All the franchises make sure to bring big players and because of them the crowd come to the field and watch the matches,’ added the official.
The BCB rarely discloses its earnings from BPL but officials said this is in the range of Tk 25 crores for each season. BCB president Nazmul Hasan at a press conference in 2015 also mentioned about the same amount as their earnings from the corresponding season.
‘Now, for the sake of argument, if we agree to share 30 per cent money from this amount, each franchise will get just a little over Tk one crore. I don’t know if that will solve their problem,’ said Jalal Yunus, a member of the BCB technical committee.
‘Before us agreeing to share the revenue, we also need to know the modus operandi. But as of now we have not received anything such from any franchise. Everybody wants money but are unsure about how it should be given to them,’ he said.
Rajshahi Kings chief executive officer Tahmid Azizul Haque admitted they did not provide any revenue sharing model to the BCB.
‘We didn’t present any kind of model. We told about the other tournaments, where the profits have been shared. We also demanded same type of profit sharing according to the models of other franchise-based tournaments,’ he said.
‘There are so many models like IPL, Big Bash. We just wanted to have a share in their profit. In those tournaments, a certain amount of money from the sponsorship rights, ticketing rights and TV rights are distributed among the franchises. This is quite a simple thing.
‘The objective of the meeting was they will just listen to the proposals. We are hopeful they will give their response soon,’ he said.
According to available information, until 2017 all revenue of IPL was initially directed to a central pool and from that pool 40 per cent share went to the IPL, 54 per cent to the franchises and 6 per cent was given out as prize money to the players.
This has enabled each franchise to earn about RS 60 crores in each of the first 10 seasons. The earning multiplied four times higher after the Board of Control for Cricket in India signed an Rs 16,347 crore media rights deal with Star Sports for five years in 2018.
Although BPL is a copycat of IPL, BCB official Jalal said it will be unwise to compare the revenue of the two tournaments.
‘We earn much less from BPL compared to IPL from the broadcaster. Also here we play only in selected grounds. In IPL teams play in home-and-away, so the ticketing pattern is also different,’ he said.
Defending champions Comilla Victorians said onus is now on BCB to find a revenue sharing model.
‘Our owner [Nafisa Kamal] told them to select a model from overseas tournaments,’ said Victorians chief executive AKM Zaki.
‘We are struggling as a franchise. All other teams have a similar experience. She didn’t specify any concrete thing but she told them to choose a model from so many options,’ said Zaki.
Source: New Age.
