BY SAT News Desk
Melbourne, 28 April: The Australian Cricket Association (ACA) on behalf of Australian cricketers today rejected Cricket Australia’s (CA) pay and conditions proposal given last month. The ACA says, “…that CA’s proposal is a ‘win’ for cricket administrators but a ‘loss’ for cricket.”
CA’s Chief Executive Officer, James Sutherland, said he was disappointed that the Australian Cricketers’ Association had chosen not to progress discussions on CA’s offer but hopes the new five-year-deal will be completed by the 30 June deadline.
A media statement posted on ACA website says the CA’s proposal is a loss for cricket because it:
• Misunderstands a fundamental truth about cricket: cricket is for the fans and the players are the gateway to the fans;
• Would end the successful 20-year partnership with the players; a partnership that allows the players to share in the ‘ups
and downs’ of the games and its revenue, and allows for the fluctuations in media rights cycles;
• Denies female cricketers the opportunity to share in the games’ revenue thus compromising CA’s otherwise positive response
to the ACA’s calls for gender equity, which have been welcomed by the ACA;
• Disrespects the value of domestic cricketers and the role they play in Australian cricket;
• Fails to fully disclose sufficient financial information requested by the ACA;
• Fails to allocate with transparency or certainty the independently forecasted $2.6 billion which is expected to enter that
game over the next five years;
• Makes an artificially inflated offer to the players by including both income the players have already earned (called the
Adjustment Ledger) and CA’s (and its Associations) payroll tax obligations;
• Continues to short change desperately needed grassroots investment currently at only 12% of revenue;
• Reduces the share of Australian Cricket Revenue (ACR) available to the players and their programs in real terms;
• Creates large scale confusion for domestic players still on multi-year revenue-sharing contracts;
• Creates inequity amongst the playing groups. It is unfair for CA to create a situation, via its offer, that some players
playing in a domestic team enjoy revenue share and other do not;
• Fails to bridge the trust gap with the players that was created by CA which, amongst other things, shared zero per cent of
digital revenue with the players; and
• Maintains the threat to remove the ACA’s funding and payments and hence the critical programs that the ACA provides.
These factors, the ACA says, renders CA’s offer unacceptable to male, female, international and domestic players in Australia.
Meanwhile, Mr Sutherland said he remained confident of concluding a deal with the players.
“We have eight weeks to conclude a deal. We have always said that the two parties agree on more than they disagree. There has been an offer on the table for nearly six weeks, and once the players look at the detail we are confident they will agree that it is a fair deal for all and they can get on with playing the game.
“We want to resolve this for them, so they can look forward to a fantastic summer of cricket.’’
Details of CA’s remuneration and benefits proposal to the ACA are available at – http://www.cricketaustralia.com.au/media/media-releases/cricket-australia-makes-landmark-offer-to-players/2017-03-2.
