BCCI affiliates want IMG fees to be reduced

Mumbai:

Cricket Board's affiliates want a reduction in the Rs 33 crore fee payable to the International Management Group for services rendered in conducting this year's Indian Premier League in South Africa, according to BCCI sources.

"A fee reduction in the range of Rs 7 or 8 crore is what the members want," sources said.

The 25 associations affiliated to the Board are set to get Rs eight crore each as their share of the IPL spoils and apparently want an increase in this amount.

The Board snapped ties with the IMG after the 2009 tournament with secretary N Srinivasan citing the charges payable as "disproportionate" to the services rendered by the sports management firm in his letter of termination.

IMG's Senior Vice President Andrew Wildblood refuted Srinivasan's views in his reply to the Board and said the ten-year contract signed between the two parties in September 2007 was binding.

The IPL's Governing Council met here on Wednesday and authorised BCCI President Shashank Manohar to resolve the issue with IMG and report to the Board's AGM on September 24.

Former BCCI Chief Sharad Pawar had played a key role in the IPL authorities assigning Manohar the task of negotiating with IMG when the duo met on the eve of the Governing Council meeting, the sources indicated.

Pawar, in his capacity as the Mumbai Cricket Association president, had also written a letter to Manohar questioning the decision of the BCCI to snap ties with IMG, making it clear that the contract with IMG was approved at all "appropriate levels" during his tenure as the Board president.

The Union Minister also warned that the Board would be inviting a long-drawn legal battle and its public image would be affected by such actions.

Seven out of the eight franchisees also supported IMG in the spat with BCCI in the run-up to the IPL meeting, the lone exception being Chennai Super Kings owned by Srinivasan.