Indian contracts muddle likely to continue

Although the Board of Control for Cricket in India has made some noises to the effect that it would like to see India's players sign their central contracts before the tour of Bangladesh, it is difficult to see this happening, given the extensive work that will go into the lead-up to the actual signing of the contracts. The very first step is the players themselves reaching a consensus over what they feel about the proposed contracts, and this is likely to happen as they meet in the preparatory camp in Kolkata. However, the board and the players are both in conciliatory mood, and it is unlikely that this will develop into a flashpoint, and the way forward will instead be negotiation and dialogue.

Niranjan Shah, honorary secretary of the BCCI, has said that he hoped that the player contracts will be signed before the team departed for Bangladesh. However, it is difficult to see this happening, given a variety of factors. Firstly, the players received the drafts of the fresh contracts, which are dramatically different from the earlier contracts they signed, only a couple of days ago, and have not yet had a chance to thrash out, among themselves, the implications of the new contract.

The players will first meet among themselves to discuss some of the broad concerns they have. Once they have had a chance to do that they will seek a meeting with the BCCI to put forth their reservations. After this is done, the negotiating between the players and the board will begin, as neither side can afford an ugly stand-off. Even after this is done, and both sides agree on the broad terms of the contract, a fresh draft will have to be prepared. Once this is done the players will have to take the contract back to their respective agents and lawyers who will go through the fine print. After this is done, the actual signing can take place. A reasonable person would conclude that it is not possible for all this to happen in the five days there is before now and when the team departs for Bangladesh.

It is learnt that the players have serious problems with at least two of the proposals of the board. Firstly, the BCCI's plan to pay the players a flat fee of Rs. 1 lakh (approx US$ 2427) for each match will be a serious bone of contention. With domestic cricketers getting paid Rs. 65,000 per game (approx US$1578), it is felt that the gap between this and what the board proposes to pay the national team per game, is too low. Given that international cricket involving India, especially one-day cricket, attracts such huge audiences both home and away, both at grounds and on television, and subsequently revenues, and that domestic cricket is watched by next to no-one, this is a concern that the players are sure to raise.

Secondly, as per the old contracts, 26% of the gross revenues of the board were to go directly in paying the wages of cricketers, both international and domestic. The board had arbitrarily fixed this number, with Cricket Australia then sharing 25.5% of its revenue with its players and the BCCI wanting to top that. But, recently, the BCCI contended that the media rights, which form the vast majority of the board's revenue, would not be considered in totality when calculating this 26 %. They said instead, that 70% of the media rights money would go into the board's coffers, to be spent towards infrastructural development and other activities, and that only 30 percent would be taken into consideration when calculating the gross revenue for purposes of paying players' wages.

In the new system that is being proposed by the board this has been further diluted with the BCCI saying that the players' pay would in no way be linked to the top-line of the board. The BCCI contended that they were willing to pay even more than 26%, should the players win more matches.

However, in most cricket playing countries around the world, specifically those that are profitable, the players are paid in conjunction with the earnings of their respective boards. For example, Cricket Australia now shares 30% of its revenues with its players. When India's players, after much negotiations with the board, had this system put in place, the rationale behind it was two-fold. The first was that the natural action of market forces should come into play, and since the national players were directly involved in generating these huge monies for the board their pay should be tied directly to the quantum of income that came in.

The second contention was that the percentage system benefited both the national and domestic cricketers, and this meant that a rise in the board's earnings would automatically result in proportionately-increased pay for the players and that they would not have to sit down and renegotiate each time contracts came up for renewal.

In the new system, these issues are not addressed, and the players will be bringing this to the notice of the board. When that actually happens, if at all it does before the team departs for Bangladesh, is a matter of conjecture, and given how protracted these negotiations have been in the past, it could be some time yet before the players sign their central contracts.