INDIA’s richest and most powerful sporting body – the BCCI – declares a revenue loss and it doesn’t make news. More than that, there must be something fundamentally wrong with its managment of finances to end up in the red. The cricket board at its recent AGM declared a loss of revenue amounting to Rs 1.3 billion while the surplus for the year shown in the balance sheet was Rs 540 million against the budgeted figure of Rs 2.33 billion. BCCI president Shashank Manohar said the board’s revenues took a hit in the fiscal ending 31 March due to the cancellation of two ODIs against England, the Champions T20 League and the visit to Pakistan in 2008-09 in the aftermath of the terrorist strike in Mumbai. I reckon this is a simplistic way of looking at things. I think there is something fundamentally wrong with the BCCI’s finances. And somewhere the IPL organised in South Africa is taking its toll.
In a show of bravado, the BCCI organisers of the IPL took the tournament to SA, but the expenditure incurred may have proved too much to handle. It is clear that some sort of pull and push situation exists within the board. This was expected with Sharad Pawar demitting office and Shashank Manohar becoming BCCI president. The BCCI might well be closing ranks publicly against media which is an interloper in the internecine infighting within. N Srinivasan is the BCCI secretary who wants to upstage Lalit Modi, the IPL Commissioner. An apocryphal story told these days is that Srinivasan, a successful businessman and part of the southern rump of the swadeshi minded Bombay Club, is upset with Modi’s extravagance. I run the board and not Modi, is what Srinivasan proclaims to various stakeholders. So is Modi’s inlfuence waning in the board administration? Modi obviously has the IPL franchise owners strongly behind him. Perhaps that is why the board president Manohar issued a stern warning to the franchise owners to steer clear of board affairs. The franchises, barring Chennai Super Kings owned by Srinivasan, are seen to be backing Modi and this is not going down well with the board satraps.
Board politics has always been vicious. So, what is the genesis of this one? At the end of the day, the BCCI runs on votes. There are 27 entities with 27 votes and they finally call the shots within the board apparatus. Lalit Modi is being undermined just as Jagmohan Dalmiya was being undermined primarily because he doesn’t have a vote anymore. If one has noticed, Dalmiya is important again because he brings the Cricket Association of Bengal vote to the table all over again. The day Lalit Modi was ousted in the Rajasthan Cricket Association elections by IAS officer Sanjay Dixit, his problems began to manifest themselves. Maybe that is why his supporters are making no bones about toppling Dixit in a veritable free for all in the RCA.
Personalities and individuals don’t matter within the board if they don’t have a vote. It is the vote that gets traction in board politics.
Modi has to grab RCA if he is to stay relevant in board politicking. It is crucial for him if he is to remain a player in the board sweepstakes. While he makes moves on the RCA chessboard, Srinivasan is out to get him. As Sharad Pawar found to his chagrin when he contested against Dalmiya the first time round that the votes from the associations are the only things that matter within board politics.
Lalit Modi understood this and ensured Pawar’s elevation as the board president by weaning away crucial votes from the associations. Many believe that in the first round, Pawar who lost his only election to Dalmiya was also undermined by a Congress whip which ensured his defeat by getting all its associations to fall in line behind Dalmiya. Modi is vulnerable till he regains the RCA bastion. The natural corollary to a vote is a beach head within the board. Nothing else matters.
That is why almost overnight there is frenetic activity within the RCA, as Modi’s supporters go for broke in their endevaour to remove Dixit. Almost simultaneously there is another Modi who is raising his head in the faction riven board politics. The shrewd Narendra Modi also worked long and hard at bringing down Narhari Amin as the GCA president. It took 16 years for Amin, a top Congress leader, to be dislodged. And Modi should thank his home minister Amit Shah who worked ceaselessly at toppling Amin. So, with Narendra Modi now ensconced in the board with a vote, a new formation is likely to be created. A realignment of forces. Arun Jaitley, the BJP strategist, heads the DDCA while the ambitious Anurag Thakur, son of Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar Dhumal, heads HPCA. All three are from the BJP and this coalition needs to be watched closely. With Sharad Pawar set to become the ICC president in 2010, there is every possibility of a new president next year.
The BCCI Constitution has a bar on re-election of an incumbent president beyond his term of two consecutive years, provided that the general body in its discretion re-elects the same president for a third consecutive year. Pawar, for instance, was president for three years. So, my guess is that expect the BJP wallahs to make a play for the board presidentship next October. What will perhaps stoke the fires is that the BJP wallahs are the same lot who supported Lalit Modi’s move to stage IPL matches in their states despite the security overhang due to the general elections earlier this year. Gujarat, HP, Chattisgarh, MP were the states that came forward to host the IPL matches. Lalit Modi’s proximity to BJP leader and former Rajasthan CM Vasundra Raje is well known. And this is where Modi derives his strength within the BJP. A week is too long they say in politics, a year may well prove to be too long. But Modi is combative and that is why he is readying his assault on RCA.
Now let us look at the board’s financial health – in 2006-07, the BCCI’s total income was Rs 6,518.1 million, in 2007-08 it was up dramatically to Rs 10,004.1 million with a surplus of Rs 3,031.5 million.
This is down to Rs 540 million this year. Interestingly, a big ticket contract will come up for renewal next year. In many ways, 2010 is the year of reckoning for a board mired in controversy and increasingly cash strapped. A surplus of Rs 540 million against a budgeted Rs 2.33 billion and a loss of revenue of Rs 1.3 billion doesn’t augur well for India’s best and most professionally managed sporting body. The global telecast rights for the BCCI’s domestic calendar (internationals included) which Nimbus bagged through a $ 612 million bid in 2006 runs out in March 2010. The BCCI would want to monetise this further and increase its share of revenues from this outlet.
The board will also need to make provision for what I consider will become another contentious issue between Modi and Srinivasan – compensation to the eight franchisees for taking the IPL to SA. Or maybe Srinivasan will keep quiet about this because he too is an interested party. This will be watched closely. The T20 Champions League revenues will also help bolster the board’s kitty. Prudent financial management is here to stay after this year’s disaster.
