Unpaid players threatened boycott in BPL

[Phasht Bowler]

The dispute over the lack of player payments in the BPL has intensified with Chamara Kapugedera confirming that he and other overseas players for Duronto Rajshahi had been set to boycott their match against Khulna Royal Bengals on Friday. Though a pullout was averted, a source close to the situation told ESPNcricinfo that foreign players from all franchises would stop playing in the BPL if they were not paid by Monday. Kapugedera and other overseas Rajshahi players were convinced to take the field just before the start of Friday's afternoon game by BCB officials and the match began on time, though the players remain unpaid. The situation was so dire that the Rajshahi management had to request the match referee and the opposition captain to let them field an all-local line-up even after a delayed toss. "We were going to sit out this game," Kapugedera said in the post-match press conference. "Most of the foreign guys who have been playing these games were doing so without being paid. We played to keep BCB's respect and to give them a chance to pay. We needed to give them a point that we are not going to play without anything. "The foreign players, seven of us, were waiting for some confirmation from BCB that our first 25% money that they are due to pay us, will go to our accounts, or some certificate that's already going. So we were just waiting for that. We didn't get the money yet but the transaction is being made. Hopefully by Monday we will get the money." Friday's drama first became visible when Tamim Iqbal walked out for the toss, in place of Kapugedera who has been the captain in recent matches. ESPNcricinfo understands that although the Rajshahi management had sent out a team list with five overseas players (Charles Coventry, Dilshan Munaweera, Kapugedera, Sean Ervine and Ben Edmondson) in the playing eleven, they had to ask the match referee and the opposing captain Lou Vincent if the line-up could be changed later as there was a clear threat of a pull-out. Vincent agreed and the match referee went along with Tamim for the toss but the BCB managed to avoid a boycott. "By the time of the toss, we hadn't received the confirmation so we were waiting for it," Kapugedera said. "That's why Tamim went to the toss because we were not sure if we are going to play. But before 20 minutes, we got the confirmation." This season the BCB have taken up the responsibility to make all payments to players, and had asked the franchises to send them the money in three installments. The Rajshahi overseas players were given assurances by the BCB chairman that the first 25% will be given to them, but according to Kapugedera, time ran out. "We have held couple of meetings with the [Duronto Rajshahi] owners and chairman of BCB, and told them that we are not going to play if we don't get paid. "We have played almost all the matches, we haven't been paid anything. That's what we told them, 'What is the guarantee that we will get the money by the end of this tournament?'" As far as his decision to play this year's BPL was concerned, Kapugedera said that BCB's assurance ahead of the tournament that they would handle all payment convinced him to come to Bangladesh. "Our agents guaranteed us. The owners were very generous, promised us that we will get money. We didn't have any doubts coming here. When we knew that everything will go through BCB, we have enough foundation to believe that nothing dramatic will be happening. "You can't blame any one person, end of the day we had discussions. I think the problem is solved," he said. Despite BCB's promise, Kapugedera warned that if the money doesn't arrive by Monday (February 11), the boycott would be enforced. "We haven't seen anything yet. The players will stand the same position as today, if we don't see anything in the bank accounts. But from what I have seen and heard today, there won't be any issues on Monday." Unpaid players threatened boycott in BPL

[Vivek.S.123]

Same old story :protest:

[ganeshran]

Lack of proper valuation is killing these cricket leagues. Organizers pull out huge sums out of the air to gain traction in media but the actual revenue falls way short. Not sure what the bank guarantee amounts in IPL are but BCCI should atleast bring them to a point where it suffices to cover the yearly salary cap allotted to franchisees plus administrative expenses. So in case, franchisees go under, players are not left stranded

[G_B_]

Lack of proper valuation is killing these cricket leagues. Organizers pull out huge sums out of the air to gain traction in media but the actual revenue falls way short. Not sure what the bank guarantee amounts in IPL are but BCCI should atleast bring them to a point where it suffices to cover the yearly salary cap allotted to franchisees plus administrative expenses. So in case, franchisees go under, players are not left stranded

more than that the BCCI needs to ensure the right people own the franchises. Kochi was owned by a consortium of nobodies with suspect income. As opposed to the Adani group a stable powerful and big conglomerate with good management. Look at Mumbai Indians, owned by reliance industries and proper governance. When the BCCI do make future bids they need look at the value and reputation of the person. In the past they had had people like Dhoot (videocon) and even Anil Ambani knocking at their doors inquiring. As things stand Kings 11 need owners. Pune (sahara being in the news for wrong reasons) and Bangalore (mallaya, and kingfisher) are not in good health. Rajasthan (dont spend money) and KKR are profitable.

[King Khan]

Thats kinda brave move by Kapugedera being captain IMO. Not only he managed to get a headline of boycott threat, but also throws clear message to his employer by let loosing the match with biggest record margin.

[ganeshran]

more than that the BCCI needs to ensure the right people own the franchises. Kochi was owned by a consortium of nobodies with suspect income. As opposed to the Adani group a stable powerful and big conglomerate with good management. Look at Mumbai Indians, owned by reliance industries and proper governance. When the BCCI do make future bids they need look at the value and reputation of the person. In the past they had had people like Dhoot (videocon) and even Anil Ambani knocking at their doors inquiring. As things stand Kings 11 need owners. Pune (sahara being in the news for wrong reasons) and Bangalore (mallaya, and kingfisher) are not in good health. Rajasthan (dont spend money) and KKR are profitable.

That is where bank guarantees come into picture. A hotch potch group of businessmen would find it very hard to come up with large guarantees. The alternative you are suggesting means that BCCI just hand out franchisees to people they like, which opens them to accusations of collusion and the question of who determines the price. The market has to fix the price and auctions with strict guidelines are the only way to enforce this. If you see the 2008 prices, they are very sensible for a period of 10 years and the reason why the original franchisees (with the exception of DC who had other problems) are able to make money out of the league. The next big item on the to-do list is to make sure no franchisees are paying players on the side or under ridiculous retention rules which render the salary cap meaningless for owners with deep pockets.

[Ultimate_Game]

Leagues like BPL, SLPL and PSL (if it happens) need to understand that they cannot hope to replicate the successes of IPL and are not even in the same ball-park. IPL is targeted towards Indian market which contributes around 75-78% of the global cricket revenue. BPL, SLPL, PSL etc. cater to their local markets which account for anywhere between 2-5% of the global cricketing revenue. With such a huge difference in numbers, they can't hope to compete with IPL. They can try to ape it but they will fail. Bitter as the truth may be, fact is that Indian cricket and IPL will be the go-to league.

[Tiger-Don]

Leagues like BPL' date=' SLPL and PSL (if it happens) need to understand that they cannot hope to replicate the successes of IPL and are not even in the same ball-park. IPL is targeted towards Indian market which contributes around 75-78% of the global cricket revenue. BPL, SLPL, PSL etc. cater to their local markets which account for anywhere between 2-5% of the glabal cricketing revenue. With such a huge difference in numbers, they can't hope to compete with IPL. They can try to ape it but they will fail. Bitter as the truth may be, fact is that Indian cricket and IPL will be the go-to league.[/quote'] +10 As far as i can tell you, BPL isnt challenging IPL, rather it has kept ipl as a model for bpl to groom our cubby cricketers~ these words are said by BCB pres.

[G_B_]

That is where bank guarantees come into picture. A hotch potch group of businessmen would find it very hard to come up with large guarantees. The alternative you are suggesting means that BCCI just hand out franchisees to people they like, which opens them to accusations of collusion and the question of who determines the price. The market has to fix the price and auctions with strict guidelines are the only way to enforce this. If you see the 2008 prices, they are very sensible for a period of 10 years and the reason why the original franchisees (with the exception of DC who had other problems) are able to make money out of the league. The next big item on the to-do list is to make sure no franchisees are paying players on the side or under ridiculous retention rules which render the salary cap meaningless for owners with deep pockets.

why even have guarantees? why even come to that point. Have your own due diligence and ensure that the buyers have the capacity to pay. Lets look at the auction which led to the creation of Kochi tuskers. The fact is the BCCI had set a lower limit of bids. Both Adani group and Kochi tukers group bid above that limit and there was not much difference between the two. What the bcci should have done is looked at ownership patterns and the caliber of people who bid when both met the minimum criteria. The fact is the bcci went for the higher bid regardless of looking at if the bidder was capable of sustaining it or had a business plan. The kochi games were from memory poorly attended. Look at Pune, while the Sahara group does operate a lot in the grey zone at times, they do have a large empire to support Pune if they go into loss. (which they are). Plus they associated with Indian cricket/hockey team for how long? nearly 5-6 years. If the BCCI would have carried out a due diligence we would have an A'bad franchise under Adani operating.

[Ultimate_Game]

+10 As far as i can tell you, BPL isnt challenging IPL, rather it has kept ipl as a model for bpl to groom our cubby cricketers~ these words are said by BCB pres.

A better model, especially for B'desh, would have been for BCB to have a partnership with BCCI whereby B'desh won't have their own separate league and B'desh players will be considered "local" players in IPL - B'desh players sort of "Kolpak" IPL players, or maybe one or two B'desh franchises could be part of IPL. I would have thought SL would do the same but looks like ego has played a huge role and everyone wants to have their own leagues just to show they are no different from India/BCCI. But they gotta understand that cricket is a small market and without the Indian market these leagues are bound to fail in the longer run, especially in the sub-continent.

[G_B_]

A better model' date=' especially for B'desh, would have been for BCB to have a partnership with BCCI whereby B'desh won't have their own separate league and B'desh players will be considered "local" players in IPL - B'desh players sort of "Kolpak" IPL players, or maybe one or two B'desh franchises could be part of IPL. I would have thought SL would do the same but looks like ego has played a huge role and everyone wants to have their own leagues just to show they are no different from India/BCCI. But they gotta understand that cricket is a small market and without the Indian market these leagues are bound to fail in the longer run, especially in the sub-continent.[/quote'] and why would the bcci or other franchises want that? Your assuming the BCCI would play ball.

[Tiger-Don]

And why would india consider bangladeshi players locals?

[ganeshran]

why even have guarantees? why even come to that point. Have your own due diligence and ensure that the buyers have the capacity to pay. Lets look at the auction which led to the creation of Kochi tuskers. The fact is the BCCI had set a lower limit of bids. Both Adani group and Kochi tukers group bid above that limit and there was not much difference between the two. What the bcci should have done is looked at ownership patterns and the caliber of people who bid when both met the minimum criteria. The fact is the bcci went for the higher bid regardless of looking at if the bidder was capable of sustaining it or had a business plan. The kochi games were from memory poorly attended. Look at Pune, while the Sahara group does operate a lot in the grey zone at times, they do have a large empire to support Pune if they go into loss. (which they are). Plus they associated with Indian cricket/hockey team for how long? nearly 5-6 years. If the BCCI would have carried out a due diligence we would have an A'bad franchise under Adani operating.

You cannot have an arbitrary set of practices when big money is involved. Sooner or later those making these decisions will get influenced. Any selection criteria that has to be applied should be before the auction is conducted, not after a group has won the bid. The reason a valid guarantee is needed is that the fortunes of businesses tend to go up and down. Kingfisher was a profitable brand in 2008, not so much now with the Airlines stranded. Same with DC, they were flying high when IPL was created. With bank guarantees, the interests of the core group, the players are protected and they know they will be paid the promised amount of money. That is exactly the problem with the BPL. Players are not paid so they eventually talk to the media and the league gets a bad rep. The sponsors are affected by the bad rep and pull out. The BCB is left with less money to pay players out of its own pocket and when franchisees face payment issues, the whole model collapses.

[Ultimate_Game]

and why would the bcci or other franchises want that? Your assuming the BCCI would play ball.

And why would india consider bangladeshi players locals?

More eye-balls with B'desh market, B'desh's support at ICC and a bigger brand. If B'desh players are not considered local, they can have an option of having 2 B'desh franchises within IPL. I can see IPL on similar model as NHL or MLB where Canadian franchises are part of the league. Same here. Have North, South, East and West divisions which will limit the number of matches and breed rivalries within the same division. B'desh franchises can be part of East Division just as 2 SL franchises can be part of South division. Keep the same rules for B'desh and SL franchises as well, i.e. 7 domestic players and at max 4 foreign players and 2 out of 7 domestic players under 23 (or 21). This way you can have more franchises, reduce no. of matches, have divisional rivalries which will help in making the league popular, increase the IPL market and will become the de-facto T20 league where it would be easier to get a formal slot in ICC's FTP.

[panther]

All these leagues should be abolished with only IPL remaining, increase the number of teams to 14 and increase the duration of the tournament to 3 months.

[Ultimate_Game]

All these leagues should be abolished with only IPL remaining' date=' increase the number of teams to 14 and increase the duration of the tournament to 3 months. [/quote'] Increase in the no. of franchises doesn't mean an increase in the duration or no. of matches played. Let's say there are 20 teams. Have 4 divisions (North, East, West, South). Within the division the teams play each other twice for total of 8 games and then have 8 inter-divisional games based on a formula so that every 3-4 years each team plays each other. This would result in 16 games in total for each team and this formula is followed by NFL. Follow what works and has already been tried.

[riasat]

I am not saying it out of patriotism, but I do believe BD would pay all the players, although not in time. The same thing happened last year also. They cleared all the payment before this season. It is simply the lack of professionalism in the part of the owner and the bcb. I feel sorry for the players for delayed payment but I am confident that they will get paid. Props to the SL player that took this brave step, sometimes a kick on the backside is very important. The other thing is, the Franchise did make the payment on the 5th of this month. The problem is with the BD bank and their slow work ethics. They always check the same paper 10 times before transacting any money out of Bangladesh. I know this since my uncle is an importer..

[Marut]

Do they pay interest for late payment? Holding money for one year without paying interest is nothing short of cheating.

[riasat]

Do they pay interest for late payment? Holding money for one year without paying interest is nothing short of cheating.

totally agree.... I dont think they do..

[Lord]

Players are being arrogant.They might leave,but it wont affect BPL's popularity:weights: