Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg believes there is a need for more risk and meaning in bilateral PEs but is concerned about the loss of revenue if they are removed from the Future Tours Program (FTP) entirely.
Speaking in Darwin on Thursday during Australia’s first Test with Bangladesh, Greenberg revealed Gupta made similar comments at a CA staff meeting during a recent visit to Melbourne. Greenberg said he agreed with the idea of creating more risk and meaning in one-on-one ODIs but was concerned about the commercial consequences for cricket boards around the world if they were removed completely.
“I think the principle of his comments is that the games that are played should matter and have context and stakes,” Greenberg said.
“We fundamentally believe that. But we’re also realistic to know that bilateral DFIs make up a big part of our broadcast agreements, so we have to find a way if we want to create more risk and meaning, we’re going to move it, what are we going to replace it with, and how do you replace the revenue that comes with that?”
“So there’s a fine balance here. Some of that is short-term, some of it is long-term. But the principle of what he’s saying is true. Creating risk and meaning in the games we play is important. But it’s not an easy solution.”
Greenberg is part of the ICC working group that is finalizing the FTP for 2028-31 and they are also looking at what the 2032-35 version might look like.
“We defended hard,” Greenberg said. “Andrew has made it very clear to me that this is the position he wants to take. So we have sent those comments to the ICC. So we have some conversations scheduled with them, and I think there are a number of countries that have said something similar, given the change that has taken place, that these squad sizes are important. So that is an issue on their table.”
“I don’t know much of the background other than what was presented at the ICC conference,” Greenberg said. “I suppose it’s just a matter of trying to extract commercial value from that World Cup. And I’ve seen some recent comments that some partners are unhappy. I understand that. Hopefully there will be a path for more partners to look at the T20 World Cup rather than the ODI World Cup, so I think that’s what the ICC is planning.”
“This is how it was presented to us. We will support this strategy.”
