It was a foregone conclusion that the International Management Group will be back with the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
It was a foregone conclusion that the International Management Group (IMG) will be back with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The day Sharad Pawar came out in IMG’s support and someone like Mukesh Ambani advocated the need to have the agency in the functioning of the Indian Premier League, it was clear that the company will be back on BCCI fold. It was only a matter of time, even though a section of the BCCI did not want it.
Now one learns that the contentious issue has been settled. A confirmation will come after the BCCI AGM on Thursday. The professional agency, whose contract was terminated last month, has settled the matter for Rs27 crore.
A formal agreement between the BCCI and the IMG will be inked within a couple of days. It is learnt that the draft is awaiting the approval of the top officials from both sides.
The new agreement still needs the approval of the AGM but that should only be a formality given the men supporting the IMG. Pawar’s views still carries immense weight within the BCCI.
Board president Shashank Manohar, who was authorised to look into the matter, has spoken to the IMG officials, particularly Andrew Wildblood, the senior vice-president of the agency. When contacted, Manohar said the issue should be finalised on Wednesday. IMG refused to pass any comment.
“We never said that we don’t want the IMG. All that the Board wanted was a renegotiation. The contract was terminated as they did not renegotiate,” a Board official told DNA. The termination snowballed into a crisis with two heavyweights in the BCCI — secretary N Srinivasan and vice-president Lalit Modi — taking up opposite positions on the issue.
There are two sides to the story. A section of the BCCI thinks that the state associations, which host the IPL matches, get only Rs 4 lakh while IMG gets a whopping fee. On the flip side, IMG’s presence is needed because the corporate houses have invested money in the IPL because of the professionalism that the agency brings to the IPL.
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