BCCI still to release Champions League prize money

MELBOURNE - Cricketers around the globe are owed $6 million in prize money by the Indian cricket board for the Champions League Twenty20 competition, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) has claimed.

Australia and South Africa are also minority shareholders in the annual tournament.

“However, Cricket Australia (CA) made it clear yesterday (Sunday) that player payments were the responsibility of the Board of Control for Cricket in India,” reported The Australian.

FICA chief executive Tim May confirmed that the Champions League had failed to honour its commitments to pay prize money totalling $6 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 was quoted as saying.

“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.”

A CA spokesmen 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,” the spokesman said.

“It should be resolved in the next fortnight,” he said.

“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 organisation. A second instalment from the telecaster will be used to pay the prize money,” the report said.

Victoria and South Australia both played in the Champions League last year, a tournament bringing together the best domestic Twenty20 sides in the world.

May, a former Australia Test off-spinner, claimed players were being disadvantaged.

“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.

He claimed the Team Participation Agreement stipulate that participation fees must be paid no later than 20 days after the completion of the event.