ICC to go directly to players for gaming rights

ICC to go directly to players for gaming rights

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided not to involve the World Cricketers Association (WCA) in its targeted bid to create a mobile gaming platform and market it. Securing players' rights is vital to the ambitious project, and the ICC intends to acquire them through member boards, rather than through the players' union.

"A clear direction from the April (ICC Board meeting in Harare) meeting was that all players' rights for this project would be secured through the members. The ICC was not to contract player rights through a third party such as the World Cricketers Association," an ICC note, circulated among members who attended its recent Annual Conference in Singapore, states.

An important aspect of the issue is how to onboard retired players who are no longer under contract to their respective boards. Icon players like Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni are outside of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) fold, and any ICC online game without these legends would feel incomplete. The same applies to big retired players from other countries as well. The matter was discussed during the Singapore meeting and the ICC management has requested its board to form a working group to address this issue.

The world body hopes to resolve all aspects of the project before its next meeting in October. "The aim is to have a preferred partner identified for approval at the October board meetings. (The ICC) management will be in touch with members shortly to formalise the licence of rights required for the mobile game. These agreements will need to be completed by October," the note states.

The ICC expects huge revenue from the project which will be distributed among the members.

After the Harare meeting, the ICC initiated an expression of interest process, and 15 respondents were then filtered based on their experience and expertise in creating world-class mobile games and the financial standing of their organisations.

Following the filtering process, the shortlisted organisations were sent an Invitation To Tender (ITT) document. The responses are expected in September. Evaluation of them, based on both technical and commercial criteria, will be done thereafter.

A&W Capital appointed consultant

The ICC has appointed A&W Capital as an independent consultant to help it design distribution and revenue generation models. The appointment followed a competitive request for proposals process in which seven organisations, including Deloitte, BCG, and Sports Five, responded. A&W Capital was eventually selected for its expertise with the Indian mobile gaming market and the cricket economy. The company, with offices in Mumbai and London, is expected to submit a report on independent valuation of the bundle of rights and distribution model(s) at the October board meetings.