The International Cricket Council is facing heat from broadcasters after PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PwC) announced they will no longer serve as auditors for the upcoming media bidding process.
The development comes amidst increasingly strident demands that the ICC give the heave-ho to the requirement that closed bids be submitted for the first stage of the bidding process and instead go for an e-auction, as was done by the BCCI recently for the sale of Indian Premier League rights.
“How exactly has this process been adopted?” a member of a cricket board told Cricbuzz. “Who is responsible for the drafting of this tender document, because this is proving to be a global embarrassment for the ICC? For a body that has lawyers, top corporate leaders and cricketers as member representatives, such embarrassment won’t augur well.”
Another source gave the example of how the IPL media rights were sold via e-auction, ensuring the entire process was transparent.
“Which is the reason the BCCI made sure that the IPL rights would be sold in a manner that no questions would be raised about the process. Ask a broadcaster and they’ll tell you how the IPL was sold at optimum value. But even if it wasn’t sold at optimum value, there’s no way you’re going to debate the processes that were in place,” the source was quoted as saying.
As per the current process, broadcasters interested in bidding for the media rights will first have to submit a closed bid and if the two highest bids are close, then the e-auction option will be taken up.
“When it’s a closed bid, why wouldn’t you put your best number in the envelope? And if you’ve put your best already, what do you have left in the kitty to participate in the e-auction for? Does either make sense or both make sense?” another source was quoted as saying.
All four broadcasters – Viacom18, Disney Star, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) – have independently written to ICC saying they will boycott the bidding if the process is not transparent.
Among the four broadcasters, Viacom18 shared the letter written Wednesday by Sports18 CEO Anil Jayaraj with IANS.
Jayaraj wrote: “At the outset, we are surprised at this development and the manner in which ICC has handled the same. ICC has chosen to vaguely communicate PwC’s resignation to the bidders by carrying out changes to the process document, without any formal explanation. The least that one expects is that the process for auction of a global event that has the attention of so many people who love the sport be undertaken in a fair and transparent manner.
“We would request ICC to immediately confirm if PwC will be involved in the process going forward and if not, the firm that will replace PwC. We also request ICC to provide the reasons that led to this development. PWC opting out of bid process at this late stage, only re-affirms the material concerns that we have had all along on the auction process and have raised it with the ICC on several occasion in the last few days. These developments are casting a cloud over the entire bid process which should be avoided.”
In the letter sent Wednesday evening, Jayaraj further wrote: “We are again requesting the IBC/ICC to take strong steps to safeguard the sanctity of the entire process. Specifically, in the interests of complete transparency and fairness, we request IBC to immediately cancel the currently envisaged closed bidding process for first stage and adopt an e-auction process in entirety.
“The above development has dismayed us so much that in the absence of such transparency as requested, we may be forced to revisit our participation in the process. We strongly urge IBC/ICC to consider the above and adopt e-auction as the sole process for the current bid.”
All technical bids had to be submitted to the ICC on August 22, while August 26 is when the financial bids will be handed over to the governing body. According to sources, the bids were to be submitted at the PWC’s UK office, but now the process will take place in Dubai at the ICC headquarters.
