The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) and Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) are bound to pay 15 percent of gate money earned from ticket sales at National Sports Council (NSC) venues where they host domestic and international matches.
This decision was adopted at a Cabinet meeting in 1991. However, both the football and hockey federations have not been complying with this requirement for a long time, repeatedly avoiding payment to the NSC by citing financial constraints.
Even the BCB, recognised as a financially solvent sports federation, has not been paying the actual gate money levy to the NSC.
In 2006, the BCB received permission to use the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on a 15-year lease.
During that period, the stadium hosted three consecutive Asia Cups, a notable number of games from the 2011 ICC World Cup and the entire T20 World Cup 2014 —as well as all bilateral series and tri-nation tournaments under the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP) and nine editions of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
Despite this extensive use, the NSC has failed to collect the expected gate money levy from the BCB.
Between 2006 and 2027—a span of 15 years—ticket sale revenues are estimated to have exceeded hundreds of crores of taka.
Yet, in this one-and-a-half-decade period, the BCB has paid only Tk 2,42,77, 347 to the NSC from ticket sales.
The NSC has not been satisfied with receiving such a nominal levy, suspecting that the actual ticket sale figures have been concealed by the BCB.
As part of the renewed 15-year lease agreement for the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, the NSC added a new condition: in addition to the 15 percent gate money, the BCB must also pay 10 percent of earnings from broadcasting rights.
While the BCB did pay the gate money levy for the first year of this current lease period, it has not paid the 10 percent from marketing and broadcast revenue to the NSC, the parent body of all sports federations.
As a result, the BCB has faced repeated audit objections, prompting the NSC to take a stricter stance.
Recently, the BCB proudly announced that it had earned Tk 12.25 crore from ticket sales during the 11th edition of the BPL.
This declaration has led the NSC to question the credibility of previous figures provided by the BCB regarding ticket sales income.
In an interview with this reporter, NSC Secretary Aminul Islam stated, “Up to 2022, the BCB has paid the gate money levy from the matches held at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium. What choice do we have but to believe the numbers they’ve provided? This time, we’ve sent a letter requesting the remaining gate money for the remaining years.”
However, although Aminul Islam spoke in a diplomatic tone during the interview, the tone of the official letter he signed and sent to the BCB was far from gentle.
In the letter, the NSC put pressure on the BCB by demanding both the actual gate money levy and the 10 percent share of broadcast revenue.
On April 9, the NSC formally sent a letter to the BCB requesting payment of 15 percent of gate money and 10 percent of income from broadcasting rights for all cricket matches held at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium from the 2022–23 fiscal year to the current fiscal year.
Bd-Pratidin English/ARK
