What of long-term cricketing plans?
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) called an emergency meeting which will take place tomorrow at its Mirpur headquarters, mainly to discuss the worldwide media rights issue.
The board has already floated a tender and the interested parties can buy tenders from today till May 8 and an open auction will take place on May 12.
“We want to discuss everything in the board so that we can look after our interests in the six-year deal. We have got some advice from our legal experts which we will discuss and we would appreciate if someone comes up with anything more,” said Kazi Inam Ahmed, chairman of BCB's marketing and commercial committee, yesterday.
Considering their previous bitter experiences, the board must ensure that no stone is left unturned in making a good deal for worldwide media rights for six years until 2020. It is potentially a major source of income for the country's richest sports body but unfortunately, the board was left chasing the eight-ball in their previous two long-term deals and were unable to draw in the appropriate amounts, mainly because of loopholes in the legal terms.
It is doubtless a major issue which warrants a lot of attention, but there are some other equally important issues which the board must also put at the top of their agenda and the sooner that happens the better it is for the Bangladesh cricket.
The two -- Bangladesh's cricket and media rights -- are in fact connected; in order to fetch higher value for their product -- Bangladesh cricket -- the standard of performances must rise.
The need of the hour for Bangladesh cricket is to make a comprehensive long-term plan so that the performance graph rises and they make a respected place for themselves in world cricket. There has been enough talk about what we need to do but the reality is that we have still done little and cricketing affairs get little attention in the highest forums.
After the national team's recent debacle there was no shortage of talk and the term 'bring changes' was most beloved among some BCB high-ups before 'improvement in the rankings' took centre stage when it came to light that Bangladesh may have to play the qualifiers to play in the 2019 World Cup. Soon after Bangladesh's debacle in the ICC World Twenty20, BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon emphasised on a four-year plan but, alas, a single step is yet to be taken in this regard though time is running out fast.
“Tomorrow's meeting will mainly discuss the TV deal but other issues may also come. Yes, we believe we need a long-term plan but in the first place it should come from the respective departments like game development, cricket operations committee what actually they want to do in the next five or four years,” said Jalal Yunus, BCB's media committee chairman.
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