Pakistani players are reluctant to sign a long-term core contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after differences over the sale of players’ licensed digital rights between the two parties.
Although the last set of players’ core contracts expired on June 30, the PCB has so far been unable to convince them to sign the new contracts.
The Pakistan team has already arrived in Sri Lanka for their one-day series against Afghanistan and for the subsequent Asian Cup.
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A reliable source close to the players said the dispute centered on the players’ demand for more input and say in the sale of their digital rights, handled by the board.
“Players’ point of view is that other cricket boards are not involved in or have a proper agreement with them on the revenue sharing of this avenue in selling digital rights/NFTs (non-fungible tokens) of players.” , the source said.
He said that with companies like Rario, run by two Singapore-based Indians, or Dream Sports, which pay big bucks to sell players’ sports NFTs, including images, clips and sound bites, gamers wanted the board to give them independent trading rights or a larger share of the profits.
The PCB apparently earns revenue from the ICC and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) for granting players digital/online rights to images, clips and sound bites for events held under the aegis of these bodies. .
The PCB is also said to earn from the sale of the digital rights of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) players.
“The PCB gives gamers a portion of their digital rights sales, but gamers feel it’s not enough,” the source said.
The sale of sports NFTs has become a major source of income in the cryptocurrency market with Rario recently investing almost $120 million.
NFTs are known as digital collectibles and with a global base of Rs 250 crore cricket fans with a desire to own digital artifacts, memorabilia of their favorite players has become a huge market for income.
The NFT sale is authenticated through blockchain technology.
The source said that the PCB had proposed a three-year core contract for players who were reluctant to accept this term.
“Although the board nearly doubled the monthly core contract retainers and increased match fees, the players want a bigger share of the sale of their digital rights and even a bigger share of what the board earns from the sale of digital rights. transmission,” he said.
Currently, a senior PCB official is in Sri Lanka negotiating with high-level players and trying to convince them to sign the contracts the board has drawn up.
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