BCCI strips cricketers

The Board of Control for Cricket in India's ( BCCI) decision to restrict brand endorsement contracts of cricketers could land in a legal turmoil.

The Indian cricket's governing body today decided to limit the number of brand endorsements to three per cricketer at any given point of time. Also, no brand can hire more than two players. The players will have to take prior permission of the BCCI before signing any endorsement deals.

Even current endorsement deals with players will be reviewed, BCCI said. "Cricketers are not bonded labour and have a right to earn their living. This is legally not enforceable unless the board compensates for the loss of earnings," said Anirban Das Blah, vice-president, GloboSport, a sports management company which manages Zaheer Khan's contracts.

Jeet Banerjee, managing director, Gameplan, the company that handles M S Dhoni's account, agrees. "Players cannot be stopped from endorsing more than three brands," he said.

Each cricketer in the international eleven have at least three brand associations to their name, say sports managers. Players such as MS Dhoni, for instance, had 17 endorsements at one point of time. The BCCI will also find it difficult to implement this decision, said another manager.

"If the decision is with retrospective effect and cricketers walk out of an endorsement contract, who will pay the termination fees back to advertisers?" said a Delhi-based sports manager.

Companies agree. "If the decision is with retrospective effect and cricketers walk out of an endorsement contract, who will pay the termination fees back to advertisers?" said a Delhi-based sports manager. The wrong 'un

Cricketers who get affected as they endorse more than three brands:

Rahul Dravid Pepsi, Sansui, Reebok, Bank of Baroda, Britannia, Hutch, Karnataka Tourism, Skyline RealEstate, Castrol, Max New York Life

Sachin Tendulkar Pepsi, ITC Foods, Future Group, Cannon, Adidas, MRF, ITC Sunfeast, Pantaloons, Audemars Piguet, G Hanz, Nazara.com (Reliance ADAG)

Sourav Ganguly Puma Sports, TCL, Hero Honda, Tata Indicom, Sahara