Chief executive officer Johnny Grave said Cricket West Indies (CWI) has long made its views known on two news items in the sport that caught international headlines over the past week.
Grave said CWI had already written extensive reports to the ICC, the sport’s world body, on the issue of its revenue distribution model, and the lure of players away from the international stage to franchise Twenty20 tournaments around the globe.
The issue of the ICC revenue distribution model became topical when it was revealed that under a proposed new deal, the Indian board was projected to collect nearly 40 per cent of net surplus, about U.S. $230 million per year of annual earnings of U.S. $600 million, from the world body’s next four-year commercial cycle.
“There have been no discussions at the ICC chief executives committee meetings on the core distributions from 2024 onwards,” Grave said during a virtual news conference recently, following a CWI board meeting the previous day.
“Clearly, on the back of improved media rights deals that the ICC have announced a few months ago, we would certainly be expecting more revenue for CWI from ICC, but we are working to assiduously improve all our revenue streams and explore other diverse revenue opportunities, including the investment we have made here in Antigua at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.”
Grave said there was likely to be discussions about the new revenue distribution model at the next ICC board meeting that will happen about the time of the World Test Championship final in June in London – but CWI’s view have been made clear for the past four years.
“We wrote a paper to the ICC back in 2019 about the economics of cricket and talking about the importance of equal revenue sharing and the importance of competitive balance to ensure that as many teams as possible have the opportunity to be successful, to create that uncertainty about who wins in matches, and to keep the sport at all levels across the world, not only sustainable, but also grow,” he said.
“The philosophy of CWI is that we need all the full members of ICC and the associates to be growing the sport, and protecting the sport in their countries, and clearly, the more teams that have a genuine chance in the eyes of fans of winning world cups will create the greatest contest on the field, will create the greatest interest in our sport. That remains our philosophy.”
It also emerged during the past week that five-time Indian Premier League champions Mumbai Indians could offer Barbados-born, England speedster Jofra Archer a lucrative, year-round deal that will require him to play for its partner teams around the world and force the England & Wales Cricket Board to seek permission from the franchise for him to play international matches.
Both Grave and new CWI president Dr Kishore Shallow said the franchise vs international team discussion was nothing new, but the latest development could threaten the stability of the sport globally.
“It’s something that if you were doing a SWOT analysis, you would consider it a ‘threat’,” Shallow said. “It’s something we must discuss formally. One of the committees we set up (on Thursday) was to review NOCs, and I would expect this will be quite high on the agenda.
“This is not something new. It’s a challenge we have had over the years, we just have to approach it in a practical way. We don’t want to deprive any player from additional earnings, but what we want is to have our players available for West Indies duty at all times, and we will continue to have those discussions with the players and get more commitments.”
Grave added: “We have had to show greater flexibility over the past few years, and I think over the past six or seven years, we have had a pretty sacrosanct window for the IPL – by far the greatest revenue earner for our players.
“The process is that any player that wants to play in any league around the world needs their home international board approval through an NOC (No Objection Certificate) – but we wrote papers to the ICC since 2018 talking about the need to have more updated regulations with respect to T20 franchise leagues.”
Johnny Grave disclosed the world body had formed a committee to review the regulations, and their recommendations will be presented at the next ICC board meeting in July.
“So, there are ongoing discussions around the framework of cricket,” he said. “Clearly, it’s unrealistic for virtually every international board to compete with domestic franchises, particularly those that have IPL ownership…
“It’s an ongoing challenge… but it’s not a case of an arms race because all of the international boards are constrained with their finances and have the unique situation that all the remits of the international boards have to fund not only their players, but the whole pyramid of the game from playground to grassroots level, community cricket, club cricket, as well as the age group pathways and all of the List A and first-class cricket.”
Because the franchises do not have the same financial burdens of international boards, Grave said, they could offer players significantly higher remuneration, but discussions will need to take place, and administrators will be forced to move nimbly.
“It’s going to continue to evolve,” he said. “I am not aware of any of our players signing any long-term contract with any international franchise group, but if they did, they will still need to come under ICC regulations, and they will require an NOC from us to take on any of those engagements.”
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