The BCCI, the England Cricket Board, and the Cricket Australia are together termed as the ‘big 3’ of international cricket because of their financial power and the influence they have on how cricket is run internationally.
Well, the BCCI and the ECB have been hit by the COVID-19 Pandemic which has gripped the whole world and ripped people off any sort of sport all around the world. However, both these bodies, especially the BCCI are relatively stable still and are expected to recover when cricket resumes. However, the biggest shock has been the way Cricket Australia has crumbled in this crisis.
CA was worth USD 97 million in March 2020 as per its financial statements. The estimates were that it would reach up to USD 100 by the time India would visit Australia. However, updated calculations post the pandemic suggest that CA could lose over USD 20 million instead of gaining anything that too if there are no further shocks in the coming months. There were reports that CA invested its money in stock markets which crashed and they lost a huge amount of funds. This came as a massive shock to the cricketing fraternity around the world as CA is one of the richest and most professionally managed boards in the world and its failure puts a real question mark on the ability of the smaller cricket boards to sustain these tough times.
According to the CA team led by CEO Kevin Roberts, the majority of the staff of almost 200 will now be stood down and the remaining staff will operate at only 80% of their earlier salaries. Roberts also mentioned that several other cost-cutting measures will be taken to revive the board.
CA are considering hosting India for a five-test series this summer if cricket does happen. They may consider holding the series behind closed doors and only at a single ground, most likely, the Adelaide Oval. With the ICC T20 World Cup also under clouds, if this series also gets cancelled, then according to Roberts, “hundreds of millions of dollars” could be lost. Whenever the India vs Australia matches happen, Cricket fans in India and Australia both have an opportunity to live their passion through the cricket betting sites and become more invested in the games.
There is every chance that the T20 World Cup 2020 may be swapped with the T20 World Cup 2021 which is due to take place in India. Instead, this year’s World Cup may be postponed and shifted to 2022 and the IPL takes place this year. CA have a lot of questions to answer and so many of these questions are beyond their control as it depends upon how the pandemic situation would be in a few months' time.
There are doubts also surrounding the central contract list of the players which the CA has to finalize by 30th April 2020. It will definitely have to go for pay cuts and may also drop fringe players from the contract. The top international players will be in the contract but the concern will be around small players who make their living through domestic cricket and the Big Bash Cricket.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel for CA in the form of possible media rights revenue they are due to receive from Fox Sports and Channel 7, the official broadcasters of cricket in Australia. However, even that is not certain yet.
Fingers will be crossed as no one wants to see another pay dispute between the board and the players, something that has done a lot of damage to West Indies Cricket a few years back.
Well, it remains to be seen how things transpire but we can be sure about one thing that Cricket Australia is in a really dire state and this is something not many people expected.
