MUMBAI: The financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic is set to be massive, particularly in the sporting world, which has seen all the events either cancelled or postponed.
With almost all the leagues stalled there, most of the European footballers have agreed to, or are taking massive pay cuts. On Saturday, Juventus had revealed that superstar footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, a few of his teammates, as well as club boss Maurizio Sarri, had agreed for pay cuts considering the grave situation in Italy. Ronaldo, in fact, has agreed to waive four months’ wages in order to ensure can pay their staff.
Former India batsman and currently the president of the Indian Cricketers Association (ICA) Ashok Malhotra feels that in the present grim situation, where there is a huge uncertainty around the cash-rich IPL, India’s cricketers, some of them the richest in the sport, could soon face a pay cut.
“The BCCI is the parent body of the cricketers. It’s a company. If a company is making losses, then it all filters down. In Europe, almost all the footballers, normally paid the highest among all, are taking a huge pay cut, which has been announced by their associations. This was an unexpected scenario. These are very tough times. So, everyone will have to try and contribute from their pocket. I know it’s not fair to reduce the salaries of the players, but if the parent body is not earning as much as it was doing before, the cricketers will definitely have to expect a pay cut,” Malhotra, who played seven Tests and 20 ODIs for India, told TOI on Tuesday.
Malhotra felt that the pay cut will have to be “across the board, from the elite, current India cricketers to the domestic cricketers.”
“For example, if a Ranji Trophy player normally gets 1.5 lakh for a game, he may have to suffice with Rs 1 lakh. I think everyone’s expecting it. As of now, sport has taken a back seat. If there’s no sport, no IPL, the BCCI will lose around Rs 300 crores. If there’s no World Cup (there is a danger of the T20 World Cup in Australia in October being cancelled too), then the BCCI won’t get money from the ICC also. So, if they get a big hit, you can’t expect them to pay people normally,” he concluded.
Source : timesofindia