Indian boss to take over world cricket amid $4.5 billion TV rights fight

India’s Jay Shah will take over as chair of the International Cricket Council after forcing the resignation of the incumbent Greg Barclay, amid a $US3 billion ($4.46 billion) dispute between the governing body and its major broadcast rights holder Star.

Two sources with knowledge of discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations are confidential, confirmed the move late on Tuesday night.

BCCI boss Jay Shah hands the ICC T20 World Cup trophy to India’s captain Rohit Sharma alongside ICC chair Greg Barclay.Credit: AP

New Zealander Barclay told ICC directors, including Cricket Australia’s chair Mike Baird, of his intention to resign during a video conference, after being informed by Shah in recent days that the BCCI secretary wished to replace him in November and had the numbers to do so.

“ICC chair Greg Barclay confirmed to the board that he will not stand for a third term and will step down from the post when his current tenure finishes at the end of November. Barclay was appointed as the independent ICC chair in November 2020, before being re-elected in 2022,” an ICC spokesperson said.

“Current directors are now required to put forward nominations for the next chair by 27 August 2024 and if there is more than one candidate, an election will be held with the term of the new chair commencing on 1 December 2024.”

While Barclay was eligible for another two-year term, Shah has won support from Australia and England, among other countries, to run the ICC for at least three years under a revised constitution.

By doing so, Shah will tick off another senior post in cricket, having been schooled by his father and BJP politician Amit Shah, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s most trusted lieutenant. Shah’s term as BCCI secretary was due to expire next year.

The future of ICC management, headed by the Australian chief executive Geoff Allardice and based in Dubai, is unclear.

Before Tuesday night’s video call, the ICC had faced criticism from member countries for the USA-based leg of this year’s Twenty20 World Cup going $US20 million over the agreed operational budget. There is also uncertainty about the likelihood of India travelling to Pakistan to contest the ODI Champions Trophy in February next year.

Shah’s ascension has arrived at the same time Star is seeking relief from the enormous deal it signed with the ICC in late 2022 for the rights to broadcast global cricket events into India from 2024 to 2027.

Jay Shah is set to become the head of the International Cricket Council.Credit: SOPA Images/LightRocket

Star chiefs want to renegotiate the deal and reduce its value by up to half, potentially meaning the loss of millions of dollars from the budgets of major cricket countries over the next four years.

ICC directors have been served with a reduction notice from Star, a trigger for renegotiating the rights or possibly moving to “blend and extend” the deal on revised terms for a longer period.

Star’s winning bid for both TV and digital rights, of some $US3 billion over four years, was made on the understanding that it would on-sell a portion of the deal to ZeeTV, which in turn was in the process of a merger deal with Sony.

However with the ZeeTV-Sony merger collapsing, ZeeTV has likewise backed out of sub-licensing the ICC rights, leaving Star to foot the entire bill. The company’s discomfort with the cost of winning the rights was underlined by an unsuccessful request, earlier this year, to relocate the T20 World Cup from the USA and the Caribbean to India.

NSW Premier Chris Minns with former premier and Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird and Australian cricketer Josh Hazlewood at the SCG on Sunday.Credit: Edwina Pickles

ZeeTV and Star are fighting out the circumstances of their collapsed deal in the London Court of International Arbitration. At the same time, Star is in the process of being sold by Disney to the Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, which owns the broadcaster Viacom18.

Last year, the money from the ICC rights deal was divided up among member nations through a formula that handed nearly 40 per cent of the funds to the BCCI (about $US230 million per year), followed by percentages of between 7 per cent (England) and 6 per cent (Australia) to a little less than 3 per cent each for Zimbabwe and Afghanistan.

While Australia (CA signed a $1.5 billion deal with Foxtel and Seven in January last year) and England have healthy domestic broadcast deals that bankroll the game in each country, ICC distributions make up the lion’s share of revenue for most member countries. Their reduction by millions of dollars would be disastrous for the likes of New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

The ICC has, meanwhile, confirmed it will move this year’s women’s Twenty20 World Cup out of strife-torn Bangladesh and play it in the UAE in October. Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe were among other interested nations, after Shah emphatically ruled India out of consideration.

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