Australian cricket pay dispute: players’ rights up for sale in India in latest twist in ongoing pay war

AUSTRALIAN cricket’s ugly pay war has taken a new twist with the players’ association chief heading to India to sell commercial rights to the national team.

Australian captain Steve Smith and others command a high commercial value.

PLAYERS’ association general manager Tim Cruickshank will fly to India this week in a bid to sell the rights to the Australian cricket team.

In what shapes as an enormous strategic play in the escalating pay war and a potentially devastating blow to Cricket Australia’s major corporate partners like Optus and KFC, a frustrated playing group has determined they have been left with no choice but to start acting on serious offers from Indian media giants to buy their intellectual property.

Selling the collective image rights for global superstars like Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell under the guise of ‘the Australian cricket team’ could net the playing group up to $10 million according to experts, money which they then plan to share with their unemployed domestic male and female colleagues to fund them through a protracted battle.

Australian captain Steve Smith and others command a high commercial value.

The sale of players’ IP to cricket-mad India would spark an unmitigated crisis for CA’s major sponsors, who as of June 30 have lost all rights and protections promised to them regarding the Aussie team under the now extinct MOU.

The Sunday Telegraph has obtained an Australian Cricketers Association email sent to all State and BBL teams and CA on Friday, which spells out in no uncertain terms that the rights of out of contract players no longer belong to them but to the ACA’s ‘The Cricketers Brand’.

A Cricket Australia spokesman dismissed The Cricketers Brand as “an IR negotiating tactic” with the administrators confident the top players have too much to lose by selling their rights.

However, when contacted yesterday, Cruickshank confirmed details of his plans and emphasised the ACA meant business. The former NSW cricketer described the hunt for Indian suitors as “regrettable” and “sad” but entirely necessary, due to the ACA’s adamant belief that CA is trying to “starve” them out by purposefully dragging out negotiations.

The Australian Cricketers' Association have presented a united front throughout the crisis.

“The majority of the players are free agents and we’ll be able to honour anything we do sign over there,” said Cruickshank, who will depart late this week or early next week.

“It’s very regrettable and disappointing, and not for one second a position we wanted to be in but we’re in this position now and this is the reality we’re faced with. There’s been some exciting opportunities present themselves so we’ve got to try and capitalise on this at this time of uncertainty.

“The majority of players are unemployed, the ACA now has no funding and the players have been told they’re not going to be back paid.

“The support fund is at the moment one of our main priorities.

“The top guys (like Smith and Warner) are the ones that have the bulk of the commercial value … but the players are very (united), they’ve got each other’s backs.

Usman Khawaja’s Australian A squad pulled out of a tour of South Africa this week.

“There are some specific companies we’re talking to and organisations, obviously media outlets and some of the governing bodies. I won’t go into detail as to who … but we’re meeting with the right people let’s put it that way.”

As it stands there is nothing stopping McDonald’s India going through the TCB and buying IP rights and ambushing KFC. Under that disastrous hypothetical — any company — including existing CA partners — would be forced to buy their access off an offshore rights holder. Under the now defunct MOU, only CA’s valued corporate partners had access to ‘the Australian cricket team’ — classified as three or more players appearing in promotional material at once.

However, now all bets are off and the entire Australian cricket team — to the tune of 230 uncontracted players — is up for sale.

CA head of performance Pat Howard has already warned cricketers via email that entering into deals could hurt them long term.

Cruickshank admits The Cricketers Brand faces a balancing act.

“I believe to a certain extent the current commercial framework (for the MOU) needs to remain in place which is why we’re working closely with a number of CA partners and we’re communicating with them and encouraging them to speak to us and to work with us,” he said.

However, the bottom line is CA’s sponsors — described as “the meat in the sandwich” have been left badly exposed by the collapsed agreement and currently aren’t getting what they paid for — opening up the possibility for agreements to fall through.

In an email to state and BBL clubs, Cruickshank spelt out the state of play: “… No ‘out of contract’ player: Can be required to do appearances, can have their attributes used by your sponsors; and can have their attributes used by CA, state associations and or W/BBL teams.”