The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) members will assemble in Bali for a two-day meeting on Jan 30 & 31. The annual general meeting will be held on Jan 31 with a plethora of important discussions on the agenda. Among them are Asia Cup 2025 and ACC broadcasting rights. ACC President Jay Shah could also call for an election as he is heading to the ICC.
ACC Meeting Agenda:
- Asia Cup 2025 format
- Asia Cup 2025 hosts
- ACC broadcast rights
- ACC elections (potential)
Asia Cup 2025
The elephant in the room will be Asia Cup 2025. Every edition of the jinxed tournament has had trouble regarding hosts or COVID-19. But with T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka, all eyes will be on the continental tournament.
The tournament will return to T20 format after an ODI Asia Cup in 2023. However, the host for event will also be an important discussion. Pakistan and Sri Lanka jointly hosted the last edition. In 2025, UAE and Oman are in contention as per a Cricbuzz report. Bangladesh is another potential host.
But the ACC has to take a call on whether associate nations can host the tournament. As per the ACC membership agreement, only ICC Full Member nations can host the Asia Cup. Even though UAE has hosted the Asia Cup twice, they did it on behalf of India and Sri Lanka.
ACC Broadcast Rights
Another important matter on the agenda is ACC Media Rights. Disney-Star is the current rights holder. However, whether Disney-Star would want to continue is a big question. The strained diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan apart from the volatile situation in Sri Lanka have been an issue. Disney-Star wrote a letter to ACC President Jay Shah in 2022, shifting Asia Cup to UAE due to Sri Lanka’s economic crisis.
ACC has invited all the top broadcasters on Tuesday for a dinner. And Viacom18 which has been spreading its wings in sports broadcast with a rapid pace will also be a top contender.
What about Jay Shah?
As per the Cricbuzz report, Jay Shah is likely to contest for ICC chairman role in November. And if he gets elected, he will have to vacate the ACC seat as the ICC role does not permit holding both seats. The BCCI secretary would also need to step down from the role in the Indian board.
Even though the ACC Elections are not on the agenda, Jay Shah’s role could come up during the AGM on Wednesday.
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