Snixer Sports file lawsuit claiming $5 million from ACB over APL row

As leagues keep popping up around the World, the controversies around them keep rising too. This time around it is the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) which has found its way to the middle of a muddle as their commercial partners, Snixer Sports, sue the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).

Snixer Sports has filed a lawsuit of USD 5 million against the ACB over the postponing of the second edition of the APL which was scheduled in 2019. The board had terminated the agreement prematurely citing concerns about the integrity of people associated with Snixer Sports.

“In our endeavour to safeguard the same, we were left with no other option but to resort to legal remedies against the biased and illegal conduct of ACB,” an official of theSnixer Sports told The Dawn.

“Each franchisee spends close to 1.5 million USD per team and with 5 teams its 7.5 million. Around 2 million will be spent by promoters every season to sustain the league, which pushes the total league cost to around USD 10 million per season. There is no market due of APL season 1 and Snixer has cleared 100 per cent market payments in 60 days of the league commencement despite facing losses of over USD 3 million in the inaugural season,” the official added.

The governing body on the other hand, has accused their partners of having not paid their due of rights money from the first season while accusing them of “possessing a severe risk to the integrity of the league.” The board went on to inform that the ICC ACU has complete knowledge of the issue and shared that talks between the bodies will start only when all the due are cleared by their partner.

“Snixer Sports and people connected to them possessed a severe risk to the integrity of the league. The ICC Anti-Corruption Unit is aware of these risks and are investigating several cases,” ACB spokesperson Mohammad Ibrahim Momand said.

“The ACB is happy that they claimed because we don’t have to pay them, in fact they (Snixers) owe ACB dues of the last (APL) season. They were a risk for APL integrity as well, first of all they have to clear our dues and then our legal team will deal with their legal team or with the court as required.”