Australian cricketer Mitchell Starc has become the first player to "take the provocative step of aligning with a rival to one of Cricket Australia's protected sponsors as the sport's industrial war rages on," according to Chris Barrett of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. He is "one of Australian cricket's most marketable commodities and more than a week after 230 players fell out of contract he has been among those in hot demand." Starc signed a sponsorship deal with an Audi dealership that "may lead to consternation at CA, which has included fellow car company Toyota among its so-called protected sponsors" for the '17-18 season. Players were "cautioned" by CA High Performance Manager Pat Howard prior to becoming free agents on July 1 that they jeopardized a future contract with CA if they signed "unapproved endorsements" before a new memorandum of understanding between the governing body and the Australian Cricketers' Association was agreed. Sources said that Toyota had taken up an option for a new partnership with CA after its contract expired on June 30. It was unclear, however, "whether that deal had been renewed" after the cricketer signed with Audi last week, in which case Starc "could potentially argue it was a pre-existing sponsorship." Arrangements with individual dealerships, with a car generally exchanged for promotion, "are not unheard of but in ordinary circumstances when players are in contract they have to be agreed to by CA and technically should be unpublicised." Whatever its merits, the Starc deal will serve as a message to the governing body that Australia's top players are "serious about their fight to retain a share of the game's revenue in their pay structure, a stance rammed home by Test captain Steve Smith on Sunday." The "most damaging battleground" of the crisis for CA is "around players' intellectual property rights as their commercial and broadcast partners become increasingly more anxious." The ACA has asked CA commercial partners to remove players' images from their websites but also "invited them to engage with the new business the union has established to form partnerships with players, The Cricketers' Brand" (SMH, 7/9).
'NOT GIVING UP': In Sydney, Andrew Wu reported Smith "warned" CA the health of the country's domestic cricket is "at risk if the revenue share model is abandoned." He took to social media on Sunday in "support for the more than 200 players out of contract." While average payments to domestic cricketers were currently A$199,000 ($151,236), having climbed 53% in the past five years, "players say that figure is misleading." On Instagram, Smith wrote, "I'll say what we as players have been saying for some time now: we are not giving up the revenue sharing model for all players. But, through the ACA we are willing to make important changes to modernise the existing model for the good of the game. ... I know from my career that when I was dropped in 2011 if I didn't have a strong domestic competition to go back to, I certainly wouldn't be in the position that I'm in today" (SMH, 7/9).
