Alan Joyce demands CA do the right thing over ball tampering

Alan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas, Cricket Australia’s major sponsor, adds to pressure on administrators to finalise punishment for the ball tampering scandal.

Steve Smith Captain of Australia cricket team leaves the Cullinan Hotel, in Cape Town. Picture: Nasief Manie/WP Media

UPDATE: The chief executive of Qantas, Cricket Australia’s major sponsor, has insisted the sporting body makes “a statement to the rest of the world’’ over punishment for the ball tampering scandal that has rocked the nation.

During a function at the Australian High Commission in London — where more than 300 guests could talk of nothing other than the shame the cheating crisis had descended upon Australia — Alan Joyce said he was in constant contact with Cricket Australia and demanded they “do the right thing.”

Mr Joyce said Qantas has told Cricket Australia to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. He said he told CA officials, including chairman David Peever and chief executive James Sutherland: “You need to address this and you need to address this now and you need to do the right thing’’.

The 2013 Australian cricket team with then captain Michael Clarke and Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.

The Qantas CEO said his company was not at the point of reconsidering its sponsorship of Cricket Australia but acknowledged Qantas executives were “extremely disappointed’’ with the players’ behaviour.

”I came to Australia 22 years ago Australia, they know the significance of a fair go, being sportsmen and sportsmanlike, it (the ball tampering scandal) has damaged our reputation worldwide,’’Mr Joyce said.

He added: ”We need Cricket Australia to make a statement that this is not acceptable because the rest of the world figures that’s the case.’’

The High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Alexander Downer was furious at the stain of the scandal that has enveloped all things Australian. Mr Downer, who leaves his post in the coming days after several years in London, said the years of building up trust in Australian business, the country’s can-do abilities and the credibility of the nation has been undone by the cricketers.

“I don’t think they realise the damage they have done,’’ Mr Downer said.

Earlier the Minister for Trade Steven Ciobo said Australia had suffered “reputational injury’’ as a result of the crisis, which has struck at the heart of Australia’s identity.

“Not withstanding the butt of a number of jokes, this does go to reputational injury and we do need to take that seriously,’’ he said.

“In Australia, we do recognise that, and after due process they will take the appropriate action.’’

Cricket sponsors get cold feet

Cricket Australia could fall up to $200 million short of its ambitious $1 billion target for its media rights, according to former sporting officials and analysts, as it embarks on a desperate rescue mission to prevent some of its sponsors from leaving the game.

The new media rights deal is due to start next summer and would run for six years. One top official heavily involved in sports rights said the scandal would “reduce the premium that companies are willing to pay, both for individuals and the sport as a whole”.

The personal contracts of some of the game’s biggest stars are also being reassessed by corporate partners, including Steve Smith’s deal with long-term Cricket Australia supporter Sanitarium.

A spokeswoman for Sanitarium had strong comments when reached late yesterday about the scandal: “It is a shameful and very sad moment for Australian sport.”

Media analyst Greg Fraser said the media rights negotiation would be “a stern test of the value of the Cricket Australia brand”.

“The scandal probably ends any hopes they had for a $1bn deal,” he said.

“I believe the best they can hope for now is $800m. Even without the scandal $1bn was a stretch, but now it’s definitely over.”

Mr Fraser said he believed the Big Bash competition would fetch about $300m for the term of the latest deal — well up on what the Ten Network has been paying — but CA would be lucky if the international cricket rights went any higher than about $500m, he said.

“Broadcasters are likely to include more rigorous ‘clawback provisions’ and penalties to protect their interests in the event of another PR disaster,’’ he said.

One former sports boss said the timing of the incident — given that it was in the middle of the media rights negotiations — was a “shocker”, which would be making CA chief executive James Sutherland “nervous”.

“There’s two levels. It weakens the negotiating position, but there’s a broader impact, in that when you’re meant to be putting your best foot forward, you’re putting your worst foot forward.’’

Another administrator noted that the presence in Australia at the moment of Armando Nunez, the president and chief executive of Ten Network owner CBS ­Studios International — who has discussed winning the Big Bash rights — could not have been worse timed.

“You’ve got American TV executives coming into the country, and Cricket Australia trying to convince them of the merit of making significant increases to the value of their bids for what Americans think is an odd game.

“(The scandal) is not going to help CBS spend every last dollar,’’ the ­administrator said.

Meanwhile, some of the sport’s sponsors said they had been contacted directly by Mr Sutherland, amid suggestions that they could invoke “disrepute” clauses to leave their contracts early if they thought their company’s interests had been harmed.

While the sponsors did not commit to leaving their contracts early, their public statements have sent a message to Cricket Australia that what happened on the field was not acceptable.

Major sponsor Magellan Financial Group reiterated its strong comments from Sunday, with its boss Hamish Douglass describing the cheating by the Australian team as “abhorrent”.

Several other sponsors, including Accenture, Qantas, Commonwealth Bank, Toyota and XXXX Gold, all made strong statements about the incident.

Accenture noted that the incident was contrary to “our strong culture of ethics and compliance”.

Meanwhile, Mr Fraser said Cricket Australia “may use Smith and David Warner as sacrificial lambs to save the sport’s reputation and resurrect the cricket broadcasting rights negotiations”.