BCB facing huge loss amid coronavirus crisis
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is on the verge of facing a loss of Tk 40 crores primarily.
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As the coronavirus situation continues to take its turn towards worse in the whole world, countries have fallen in a dilemma like no other. Financial stability or saving people? Economic excellence or protection for the people?
Bangladesh just saw the situation worsen in the last 24 hours as a record 35 new patients were found and three died. The government had shut almost everything down to prevent the outbreak and the sporting arena is one of those as the country's sports has come to a halt.
In such a situation, all federation, boards, clubs and players face a crisis like no other as this is their bread and butter. Even the richest sports body in the country, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is also on the verge of facing a loss of Tk 40 crores primarily.
The coronavirus situation has already seen the third leg of Bangladesh's tour of Pakistan suspended along with the Tigers' tour to Ireland. And with the situation worsening, home series against Australia and New Zealand are also hanging on the thread. This series not happening might put the board in financial deficits but BCB will sink into deep waters if the Asia Cup and World T20 scheduled this year is suspended.
BCB, the world's fifth-richest cricket board, receives around 11-13 million USD in grants from the International Cricket Council (ICC). If the Asia Cup and World T20 is not played in scheduled time, BCB will not receive the grant which might lead to them not covering up for their loss.
Chairman of BCB's finance committee Ismail Haider Mallick said regarding this matter, "There is the chance of a huge loss. If the Asia Cup or ICC events do not take the field, we will face a big loss. We might lose 25-30 per cent of our annual budget, which is around Tk 40 crores."
BCB's yearly budget consists of around Tk 160 crores. Of which, 30 per cent is spent on cricket development, 40 per cent in cricket operations and the remaining 30 per cent in the salary of players and staffs.
Almost half of this budget comes from the ICC and Asian Cricket Council (ACC). The rest of the budget comes from title sponsors, sponsors of different series and broadcasters.
Despite being on the verge of a huge loss, BCB is quite relaxed amid the coronavirus situation. Many boards around the world have thought about a pay-cut for their players and employees but BCB has rather extended their helping hand to them.
Even though the board is earning nothing, BCB is paying the salaries and also have provided female cricketers and first-class cricketers not included in BCB's contract with financial help. BCB has also informed that they have the capability of running the country's cricket for the next few years even if they face such a loss.
But then again, BCB has already started to think about the necessary measures to cover up the estimated loss. To cover up the loss of Tk 40 crores, BCB has targeted the T20 World Cup, Asia Cup and the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). Mr Mallick said that it was possible to cover up the loss with the World T20, Asia Cup and BPL.
But BCB has other concerns too as they do not have a title sponsor yet. Their contract with Unilever ended a few months ago and despite publishing an advertisement for the sponsorship, nobody came forward. Along with this, April 30 will see BCB's contract with Gazi TV as their broadcaster come to a close. With coronavirus and all these, BCB is indeed in quite a tight spot and hard days are coming.