Stumped by Sahara, which had announced its decision to quit Indian cricket, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday said it was open to a dialogue to resolve the dispute and find a middle ground. Several closed-door meeting were held between BCCI and Sahara officials on Monday to work out a compromise.
It is learnt Sahara is not keen on renewing the Team India sponsorship and has asked BCCI to end the deal without any compensation, considering that it was in any case supposed to end in December next year.
However, Sahara has said it would continue with the Pune Warriors team if BCCI allows it to buy five players, with the first right to choose them and pay less franchisee fees, as the number of matches has decreased to 76 matches from the 94 mentioned in the Indian Premier League (IPL) contract.
The IPL governing council is considering a proposal to allow Sahara to buy unsold players, using its $1.6 million auction purse. The council is also looking at allowing Yuvraj Singh’s price of $1.8 million into Sahara’s available kitty. However, it is still not clear if these concessions will be enough for Sahara India to return to the IPL fold.
| IF SAHARA EXITS... |
| * BCCI could directly take a hit of over Rs 2,200 crore — Rs 1,700 crore as franchisee fee and Rs 534 crore as team India sponsorship fee |
| * For IPL 5, BCCI could see revenues fall by 50 per cent compared to last year. In 2010, BCCI made Rs 323 crore from the franchisee rights fee of Sahara Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers |
| * With eight teams, the number of matches in IPL 5 would be reduced to 59 from 76 as planned |
When contacted, BCCI president N Srinivasan said, “We are ready to meet and sort out the matters. We do appreciate what Sahara has done. It might have felt aggrieved and did not get what it wanted from the IPL. We had good relationships and so we should sort out the issues.”
Subrata Roy, founder and chairman of Sahara India, told a television channel that Sahara was keen on the Pune team and would ask former India captain Saurav Ganguly to take a call. “As of now, we are undecided but we are open to negotiations. We are not rigid. We will not do anything that will harm the interests of the players,” he added.
The main reason for a compromise formula is the money involved. If Sahara exits, the world’s richest cricketing body may take a big hit. BCCI, which nearly earned Rs 900 crore from IPL 4, may earn just Rs 450-500 crore this year if Sahara goes ahead with its said intention. Earlier, the apex cricket body had terminated the Kochi franchise due to payment defaults.
A BCCI official said IPL made around Rs 323 crore last year from the franchisee rights fee of Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers. The bid amount is to be paid in equal instalments over 10 years.
The two new teams were sold for Rs 3,235 crore in 2010, while the existing eight teams were sold for a total of Rs 3,330 crore in 2008. The Kochi team was bought for Rs 1,533 crore while Pune was bought for Rs 1,702 crore.
Another setback in terms of revenue would be that the withdrawal of Sahara may push the league back to its original round-robin format with eight teams. “IPL 5 was scheduled to be played without the Kochi team, so the revenue base, in terms of matches, had already shrunk in comparison to IPL 4. If the Pune team is not replaced, the number of matches will fall to 59 from the planned 76,” said an official.
As part of the agreement, BCCI gets to keep 20 per cent of the broadcasting money and 40 per cent of the sponsorship pool, while the rest is shared equally among the participating teams.
