Cricket Australia’s commercial partners might lose the faces of star players Steve Smith, David Warner and Mitchell Stark in their advertising campaigns if the dispute over player payments is not resolved by the end of June.
If you’re not up to speed with the standoff between cricket’s governing body and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (which represents the players), here’s a short summary:
Basically, Cricket Australia plans to cut players who aren’t contracted to the set percentage model (which is 20 years old), who will have to find their own income sources if a deal on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) isn’t made by 1 July, according to Fairfax.
Players have threatened to halt action act the crease if the payment dispute isn’t resolved in time, which, if that is the case, will see Cricket Australia lose control of their players’ intellectual property, meaning the likes of Channel Nine, Qantas, Optus, KFC, Toyota and Lion Nathan will no longer have access to Aussie cricket stars for their advertising, News Corp has reported.
Furthermore, commercial partners will lose protection from the MOU, freeing up players to sign individual contracts that could involve promoting other brands.
According to News Corp, existing promotional material for the upcoming Ashes series will be left untouched, but any player lockout would freeze any fresh advertising involving the players.
