BCCI Central Contracts flawed! Players the last stakeholders

BCCI vs Indian Players. Image Credits: X

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to announce the central contracts for the men’s cricket team. The upcoming cycle of central contracts will finalize the salary structures of the players in the senior men’s side for the fiscal year 2025-26. 

This announcement from the BCCI is also expected to come up with some promotions and demotions in the pay grades. However, the pay grades are more likely to remain the same for the upcoming cycle of the contracts. 

But there seem to be a lot of flaws in the BCCI’s central contracts and the IPL money given the difference between the amount of money they earn and the one they give to the players as salary. The concern of these flaws deepen a bit more with the established fact that the BCCI is the richest cricket board among all the cricket-playing nations. 

That said, here’s a dive into the numbers to understand what are the flaws and where they actually become visible in the BCCI’s central contracts and their IPL income. 

Players: The core asset getting undervalued

The central contracts announced by the BCCI for FY 2024-25 had four pay grades namely A+, A, B, and C, which are expected to remain the same in the upcoming fiscal year. Meanwhile, the salaries are also unlikely to be altered for the 2025-26 season. 

BCCI Central Contract pay scale for FY 2024-25

The players contracted in A+ grade receive 7 crore per year, followed by 5 crore per year for the players placed in A grade. Furthermore, the players in B grade receive 3 crore per year, with C grade players getting 1 crore per year. 

The four players were placed in A+ grade for FY 2024-25, alongside six players in A grade. Apart from that, five players were in the B grade, followed by 19 players in C grade. So, the total salary of all the 34 players placed across different pay grades, calculates to an amount of INR 92 crores. 

Notably, the above-discussed is the annual salary for the players active in the national side, which doesn’t include their earnings from IPL. So, let’s come to the money the BCCI earned in 2024-25 season from non- IPL sources. 

BCCI revenue from non-IPL sources in FY 2024-25 (Confirmed)

The BCCI earned a total of INR 3,980 crores from the non-IPL sources in this fiscal year. It included 1,042 crores from the ICC distributions, 813.14 crore from non-IPL media rights, 361.22 crores from men’s international games at home, including the tickets and sponsorships. 

Furthermore, the Board also earned 391.51 crores miscellaneous sources, alongside an interest amount of 1,368 crores. 

But how much they valued their core asset, the international players from this mammoth amount of 3,980 crores. All 34 players in the 2024-25’s central contracts received a total of 92 crores, which is just 2.31 per cent of the BCCI’s entire annual revenue

The money-making IPL deception

Apart from the disparity in the BCCI’s non-IPL revenue and earnings of the international players, the same deception lies there in India’s premier franchise tournament. 

The BCCI’s IPL revenue from FY 2023-24 was INR 5,761 crores, with the reports about 2024-25 revenue still emerging. A few media reports understand it to be increased to INR 9,768 owing to the massive media rights and 500 per year from the title sponsor.  

So, the confirmed revenue of approximately 5,761 crores from FY 2023-24 can be taken into account to calculate and discuss. With reference to the prize pool for the players in the recently concluded IPL 2026 mini auction, the difference in this pool and IPL earnings speaks volumes. 

The prize pool for the players in the IPL 2026 mini auction was approximately 237.55 crores, with a total of 215.45 crore spent to buy 77 players by different franchises. The total price pool for IPL 2026 mini auction was just 4.12 percent of the BCCI’s total IPL revenue in fiscal year 2023-24. 

An ideal solution to fill the gaps

Notably, it doesn't take a moment to understand the fact that players are the only assets who play and make their board earn from the various sources. It is the players who draw the fans to the stands, and pull the big brands to the cricket grounds. Undervaluing that very nucleus of the entire earning is something the BCCI needs to work on. 

The ideal solution to fill these gaps can simply be achieved by increasing the amount of money in the different salary brackets. It can be applied for both international and IPL cricketers to achieve a win-win situation for both the board and the players. 

For instance, the BCCI is easily in position to double the amount of money in salary gaps for international players, i.e., 14 crores from 7 crores for A+ grade players, 10 crores from 5 crores for A grade players,

6 crores from 3 crores for B grade players, and at least 2 to 3 crores from 1 crore for C grade players. Secondly, similar steps can be followed in IPL by increasing the current prize pool to its double.

This increase in ‘pay to players’ will not affect the BCCI’s revenue in any possible way. This will only take 2.31 percent to 4.62 percent for the international players and 4.12 percent 8.24 percent for IPL players. Interestingly, the projected revenue of 8,963 crores in FY 2025-26 for BCCI can easily synchronize with this increase of salaries.