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Cricket sponsors breathe easy

BS Bureau in New Delhi

The slanging match between the International Cricket Council and leading players seems headed for a tie with the game's governing body and the global sponsors agreeing to renegotiate the sponsorship deals after the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka next month.

In a clear softening of stand, Malcolm Speed, ICC chief executive, told reporters in Mumbai ICC agreed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India's proposal to limit the agreement only till the next month's tournament, instead of all ICC events till 2007.

However, according to BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, the players in the current team are yet to sign the agreement.

The change in stance comes as a major relief for the parties involved in the cricket controversy because the stakes are very high.

While the Indian global sponsors including Pepsi, LG and Hero Honda have committed to fork out close to $60 million till the 2007 World Cup, Sony Entertainment Television is said to have paid $255 million for the satellite television rights.

Meanwhile, the key sponsors of the tournaments also softened their stand on the issue saying they are ready to re-negotiate the contracts. Hero Honda vice-president Atul Sobti said: "If there is a need to re-work the agreement with ICC, we will look into it only after the 2003 World Cup. Then, we can see whether there are better ways to prevent ambush marketing by competitors."

Sobti, however, observed he did not really foresee the agreements being renegotiated because that would lead to legal problems.

Senior executives at LG Electronics said the company would consider re-working its contract with ICC after the Champions Trophy.

"After the next month's tournament, we could strike match-by-match deals," he said. The Pepsi spokesperson refused to comment on the issue.

But sources familiar with the deal say the firm has still not signed the final contract and has not paid any instalments of its sponsorship fees to ICC.

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