BCCI still to release CLT20 prize money

Champions League Twenty20 organisers have not paid the teams and players prize money to the tune of $6 million and the Board of Control for Cricket in India was responsible for it, a report said.

Federation of International Cricketers' Associations chief executive Tim May said that the Champions League Twenty20 organisers had failed to honour its commitments to pay prize money totalling $6 million.

"Given that the 2010 event concluded in September, we are increasingly frustrated and disappointed that the prize money still has not been paid by the organisers to teams and players," May said.

"Despite numerous requests for clarification of when the prize money is to be paid we continue to be met with a lack of certainty as to the timing of payment and a general lack of regard to the players' concerns," May was quoted as saying by The Australian.

Cricket Australia, one of the three boards running the event (besides BCCI and Cricket South Africa), said that player payments were the responsibility of the BCCI, the majority shareholder.

May, a former Australia Test off-spinner, claimed that the Team Participation Agreement stipulating that participation fees must be paid no later than 20 days after the completion of the event.

"It was unacceptable that three of the most financially affluent cricket boards in the world can seemingly sit on their hands for four months with no apparent sense of obligation to pay this prize money in a timely manner," May said.

A CA spokesmen also claimed the states and the Australian Cricketers Association had been kept fully informed of the late payments from the Champions League.

"It relates to issues in India with the manner the telecaster made its payment to the BCCI. It should be resolved in the next fortnight," the spokesman said.

According to the report, Indian officials claimed that the telecaster had taken a portion out for tax and paid it directly to the government, but the BCCI is arguing that it is a tax-free sporting organisation.

A second installment from the telecaster will be used to pay the prize money, it said.