In the first physical Apex Council meeting held by the BCCI after the pandemic, some intriguing details emerged on Thursday. BCCI claims to have spent Rs 18 crores on the Tokyo Olympics, as part of a total of Rs 22 crore expenditure on non-cricketing matters.
BCCI's apex council meeting was chaired by president Sourav Ganguly, secretary Jay Shah, treasurer Arun Dhumal, and joint secretary Jayesh George among others were present. In total, the cricketing body has put forward a break up of Rs 22 crores spent on non-cricketing expenditures, in the past two years.
As per reports, the apex cricketing body has mentioned that they spent Rs 18 crores for the Tokyo Olympics 2022. That includes Rs 68 lakhs, which were given to an event management company, Rs 4 crore were spent on cash awards for medalists, and a further Rs 5 crores for 'PM cares' mementos for the athletes.
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Further expenditures include Rs 3.8 crores spent on funding of oxygen concentrators during the Covid-crisis.
The BCCI further mentioned Rs 7 crores for the advertising agency which worked to promote the Tokyo Olympics in India, as part of the breakdown of their expenses. They also listed Rs 98 lakhs for the purchase of Olympics campaign T-shirts, while Rs 70 lakhs were allocated for singer Mohit Chauhan, who sang and composed the official song for Tokyo Olympics in India.
During the Apex Council meeting, it was also decided that the prize money of domestic competitions would be increased. Currently, winners of the Ranji Trophy, India's premier domestic competition are awarded Rs 2 crore.
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"The Apex Council has decided to give powers to office-bearers to decide on the revised prize money," a BCCI official was quoted as saying. The council also agreed upon the introduction of DRS (Decision Review System) in all Ranji Trophy games.
