ICC and WCA could clash over player image rights for mobile game

The ICC and World Cricketers Association (WCA) are headed towards a potential dispute around player image licensing rights for a new mobile cricket game that the sport's governing body is planning to launch in the near future.

The ICC presented those plans to members first in April. At the subsequent AGM in Singapore in July, some member boards are believed to have expressed a desire to deal with their players directly on these rights. The WCA, the global players' association (formerly known as FICA), calls this a "breach" of an agreement they had signed with the ICC and has accused the global governing body and "some" member boards of wanting to "own" the players' name, image and likeness (NIL) rights beyond terms already agreed.

The ICC's plan to develop the game is aimed at securing an additional revenue stream that could offset the predicted fall in the value of broadcast rights in the 2028-2031 cycle. Mobile gaming is a high-growth market in India - several reports valued it at around US$3 billion in 2024 - which is why the ICC is keen to get into the space. The WCA has already moved in there, having completed licensing agreements with three firms, including Real Cricket - a deal that was announced in August 2024. The WCA's deal with Real Cricket will feature names, images, and likenesses of more than 250 professional cricketers. But annual royalty payments to the players WCA represents have already started to come in from other mobile-gaming agreements. WCA claims there are multiple companies in India using player NIL in various games without authorisation or onward revenues to those players and it is the right to these revenues that the WCA is keen to enforce and protect.

Addressing nearly 600 players from 15 of the top 20 countries (not India or Pakistan, who don't have player bodies) who are affiliated with WCA, the global players' body warned them not to engage with the ICC or member boards over rights concerning the ICC's mobile game.

"The ICC/national governing bodies are taking steps to develop a global mobile game built on your name, image, likeness (NIL), without agreeing to terms with players collectively," Tom Moffat, the WCA CEO, wrote on August 12 in an email to players, which ESPNcricinfo has seen. "In short, it appears the ICC wants to use and sell your rights at the global level and doesn't want you and your colleagues to have a say collectively at the global level on how your rights are used, and how you get paid for them."

The WCA has also communicated to the ICC on the matter.

Moffat told the players the ICC was effectively breaching the agreement it had signed with the WCA over the authorised use of players' image rights by the ICC and its commercial partners, a recurring issue between the two organisations.

"This approach would be a breach of the ICC's agreement with the WCA and Squad Terms, and it points to: a general lack of respect for players, your commercial rights, and your right to choose who represents you; and of a desire (including from some national governing bodies) to 'own' you, and your NIL, in all contexts - even for off field opportunities that exist outside of your playing contracts, and governing body IP (marks and logos)."

Moffat assured the players that since they have "signed relevant collective rights exclusively" to the WCA, it was in a "strong position to protect and advance your rights, and if needed we will take the necessary action to do so". He said the email was to make them "aware" and that they should "decline" any approach or request to sign anything, and report the same to the WCA or their respective player association.

Mobile gaming is a new battleground in the broader backdrop of increasing friction between the WCA and the ICC over player image rights. In 2021, players refused to sign terms with the ICC after their NIL rights were sold without their consent in an NFT (non-fungible token) deal. Three years later, on the eve of the 2024 T20 World Cup, negotiations again broke down over men's player terms.

Moffat told players that the ICC has refused to engage with Winners Alliance, the Novak Djokovic-supported affiliate of the Professional Tennis Players Association, which joined hands with the WCA in 2024. Winners Alliance led on commercial deals such as collective player NIL agreements for licensed products like video games.

Moffat wrote "the ICC's current approach appears to be a direct attack on players", despite being aware that nearly 600 international players have exclusively licensed certain NIL rights, including for global licensed products like this, to the WCA, and also that the WCA has, in turn, licensed some of those rights to Winners Alliance. "We/Winners have offered to work with the ICC and governing bodies on joint IP opportunities for over 18 months. The ICC have refused to meet with Winners."

The WCA pointed out that the ICC and the member boards would be "abusing their dominant position within the economic market in cricket" by trying to directly negotiate with players and bypass both WCA and Winners Alliance. In the email to players, the WCA said the ICC had agreed in the "binding agreement" that the right to "develop, use, promote or sell globally licensed products" like a mobile cricket game would be subject to agreement with the players and the WCA.

Licensed products like video games and mobile gaming are not part of the Squad Terms contract players sign with the ICC or member boards. The Squad Terms contracts generally cater towards promotional and broadcast activity, which players sign as part of the contract with their board or the ICC for world tournaments. Rights pertaining to licensed products are separately negotiated by the WCA on behalf of the players with the governing bodies.

That the issue will get complicated is evident from reports earlier this year in Australia's the Daily Telegraph and the New Zealand Herald, which revealed ongoing disputes between Cricket Australia (CA) and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) with their players over player NIL rights for digital games. Specifically, the boards in those countries were in dispute with respective player associations over the use of player images in a game offered on the Real Cricket app. It is understood that the WCA has resolved the issue with NZC but is still locked in dispute with CA.

ESPNcricinfo reached out to the ICC for a comment but was yet to receive a response.