India, England and Australia have played each other with increasing regularity over the past five years while other countries have been shunned ©Getty
There was a striking comment in an introductory blog on the ECB's website from new chairman, Ian Watmore, last month. Despite locked-in losses of more than GBP 100million, he wrote that the "financial day of reckoning" from coronavirus was still to come. It is a hugely troubling thought.
After all, Covid-19 has already had a profound effect on the world game. Players have had to take wage cuts, a number of national boards are making staff redundant and looking to cut costs in other ways, bilateral series and World Cups have been cancelled or postponed. Yet, as Watmore points out, it is obvious that the longer-term financial consequences of Covid-19 are still to be fully understood.
What is also clear, however, is that the pandemic has brought the game's inequitable financial model into even sharper focus. It is a model that has, in a number of respects, hugely favoured the 'big three' boards of India, England and Australia since 2015, creating an environment where the rest of the ICC's members are significantly disadvantaged and where competitive balance, the very essence of successful sporting engagement, is an afterthought.
These are not new concerns, of course. But the medium to long-term effects of this pandemic look set to disproportionately affect the so-called smaller nations, exacerbating the inherent inequalities at play. While the England and Wales Cricket Board are set to lose money, for example, their very existence is not threatened and the ability of England to play Test cricket is not in doubt. The same cannot be said for some of the other Full Members.
Consequently, Covid-19 may have brought cricket's own day of reckoning much sooner than anyone expected. The good news is that there are potential solutions to reduce the inequalities in the world game. It has never been more important that they are executed.
The ECB are thought to have made more than USD 100 million from hosting the 2019 World Cup - more than some Full Members receive in an eight-year period ©Getty
There are a number of major elements to the current financial model: the ICC distributions, broadcast revenues, and hosting ICC events such as the World Cup or T20 World Cup. Then there are also the issues of the prohibitive costs of hosting international cricket for some members and the lopsided schedule which allows the big three to play more and more of the most lucrative series against each other. The whole model is skewed in favour of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the ECB and Cricket Australia.
"The bigger Full Members would claim that, 'Well we're the ones that generate most of it, therefore we're the ones that should keep the larger slice of the pie,'" Warren Deutrom, chief executive of Cricket Ireland, tells Cricbuzz. "That is one definition of fairness. The other definition of fairness is a greater equity of distribution based on ensuring that the whole sport is going to be stronger and more competitive. That's what I would regard as fair."
From the latest ICC distribution model - agreed until 2023 - the BCCI will receive USD 403 million during the period and the ECB USD 139 million. The rest of the Full Members, except Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan, will receive USD 128 million each. Zimbabwe will get USD 94 million throughout this cycle while Ireland and Afghanistan, the newest Full Members, are set to receive less than half of Zimbabwe's share. "I believe that is an area that is wrong," Deutrom says. The Associate Members have to split just USD 240 million between 92 countries.
A change to the model is clearly required to, as a minimum, significantly increase the share of revenue to Ireland and Afghanistan and the Associates in order to grow the game beyond the Full Members. Other, more radical, options are available.
"In my view, the ICC should have a model that is opposite to what the big three are attempting," says Haroon Lorgat, the former chief executive of the ICC who has a track record of attempting to check the power of the bigger members. "That is to give more to the nations that cannot generate the kind of monies needed to fund the growth and competitiveness of their game.
"A million dollars extra to India is meaningless but a million dollars to Sri Lanka or West Indies or South Africa is worth a fortune."
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Whether the BCCI, ECB and CA would ever accept that proposal is up for debate. They could argue that the ICC's distribution model is not hugely inequitable. After all, CA receive the same amount as Sri Lanka Cricket or the Pakistan Cricket Board and the ECB only get a few million more.
The disparity begins to really grow, however, when you factor in the revenues generated by the hosting of ICC events and from broadcast deals. Between 2013 and 2023, eight of the nine major men's ICC events have been or will be held in either India, England or Australia. These are lucrative competitions. The host countries receive staging fees from the ICC and retain all ticketing and hospitality revenue while the ICC covers all the costs.
For last summer's World Cup, for example, the ECB received a USD 750,000 staging fee for each of the 48 matches, totalling in the region of USD 36 million. They also grossed more than USD 50 million in ticket sales and made a tidy sum in hospitality too. In all, it is estimated the ECB made more than USD 100 million from hosting that one tournament - almost as much as what Pakistan, West Indies or South Africa receive from the ICC over an eight-year period. "The current financial model harms the interest of almost all the 104 ICC Members," Pakistan Cricket Board president