Players shocked as IPL clause links player fee to team performance

 

Players shocked as IPL clause links player fee to team performance

Just a day after FICA Chief Executive Tim May slammed the CL T20 organisers for failing to meet player payment obligations, here comes another shocker. This time, for the players of the World’s richest cricket league, IPL. A clause in IPL contract provides links a player’s fee to the team’s performance and this hasn’t gone down well with the players

Top Indian cricketers have objected to a clause in their IPL contract that denies them 20% of their fees in case their team fails to finish among the top three and thus qualify for the Champions League. Players of the 10 IPL teams read the newly-introduced fine print in their contracts only after the January 8-9 auction, and collectively approached BCCI president Shashank Manohar with their complaint last week.

At the meeting, the players said that the clause was unfair, and a breach of their trust. "At the auction the entire world saw what we were supposed to get but that was not the case when we read the contract. Twenty20 cricket is highly unpredictable and even if we give our best, things can change. One bad game can see us lose 20% of what we are supposed to get," said a senior player.

As per the new clause, Gautam Gambhir, who went for Rs 11.04 cr, will get only Rs 8.83 cr in case Kolkata Knight Riders fail to make the top three in IPL 4. Team owners insisted the new clause was legitimate. "It was a unique idea and it made a lot of sense. Like in any sphere of life, the payment will be performance-based. Moreover, when we buy a player at the auction we are paying for him to be with us for both IPL and Champions League. And if the team doesn't make it to the Champions League, the player shouldn't be paid," said the co-owner of a team.

The clause is part of the contract of only those players who were at the auction. Uncapped players will get full payment regardless of how their teams do.
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BCCI still to release CLT20 prize money

Champions League Twenty20 organisers have not paid the teams and players prize money to the tune of USD six million and the Indian Cricket Board was responsible for it, a report said on Monday.

Federation of International Cricketers' Associations chief executive Tim May said that the Champions League Twenty20 organisers had failed to honour its commitments to pay prize money totaling USD six million.

"Given that the 2010 event concluded in September, we are increasingly frustrated and disappointed that the prize money still has not been paid by the organisers to teams and players," May said.

"Despite numerous requests for clarification of when the prize money is to be paid we continue to be met with a lack of certainty as to the timing of payment and a general lack of regard to the players' concerns," May was quoted as saying by 'The Australian'.

Cricket Australia, one of the three boards running the event (besides BCCI and Cricket South Africa), said that player payments were the responsibility of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the majority shareholder.

May, a former Australia Test off-spinner, claimed that the Team Participation Agreement stipulating that participation fees must be paid no later than 20 days after the completion of the event.

"It was unacceptable that three of the most financially affluent cricket boards in the world can seemingly sit on their hands for four months with no apparent sense of obligation to pay this prize money in a timely manner," May said.

A CA spokesmen also claimed the states and the Australian Cricketers Association had been kept fully informed of the late payments from the Champions League.

"It relates to issues in India with the manner the telecaster made its payment to the BCCI. It should be resolved in the next fortnight," the spokesman said.

According to the report, Indian officials claimed that the telecaster had taken a portion out for tax and paid it directly to the government, but the BCCI is arguing that it is a tax-free sporting organization.

A second installment from the telecaster will be used to pay the prize money, it said.