International cricket bringing in the dough
By George Alleyne
The present tour of the West
Indies by the English cricket
team and a visit by India later
in the year promise a financial
bonanza not only for regional
administrators of the game, but
also national economies.
For most Caribbean nationals,
cricket is more than a game as
it tends to embody the region’s
pride and rallying point, but for
this collection of small territories
international fixtures played at
home take on additional significance,
that of economics.
The region’s administrators
are usually unable to demand
high fees for television broadcast
rights owing to the small size of
the Caribbean audience and the
West Indies’ current low ranking,
but there is an almost magical
turn-around when world-leading
teams visit.
Such is the case with the current
series that ends in March
by England, the number five
team in the world, and the late
July scheduled tour by India, the
world’s number one side.
Based on revenue that the
number eight ranked West Indies
will share with these teams, the
region’s administrators expect to
recoup a $20 million loss registered
last year and move into a
profit position.
The host Caribbean nations
are expected to also see a massive
jump in business that will lead to
a boost of the national treasuries,
not from television royalties but
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Caribbean L 16 ife, March 8–14, 2019 BQ
the influx of visitors, particularly
for the England tour.
For example, Barbados that
has hosted one five-day Test
match and two One-Day International
fixtures of the current
England tour and so full were
the hotels in this tourist island
that cruise passengers who had
missed an airline connection at
the end of their excursion had to
sleep on airport benches because
no rooms were available.
Confirming the almost 100
percent hotel occupancy, Barbados
Hotel and Tourism Association
Chairman, Stephen Austin,
said this week, “the whole
tourism sector benefitted … It
extended right through to car
hires, and attractions.”
“And I don’t think we can
limit it to tourism in terms of
the direct tourism but we also
have to look at the individual
restaurants around, the bars, the
snackettes.”
The England tour is spread
across Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada,
St. Kitts and Antigua.
The one Test, two One-Day
Internationals and two practice
matches that Barbados hauled
in out of the 13-match schedule
is somewhat of a coup for the
island because the other games
are spread out across three Eastern
Caribbean states.
While tourism and related
services operators could begin
counting profits once their
rooms or seats reach a set percentage
of occupancy, it is a different
ball game for West Indies
cricket administrators.
“It (England tour) is always
important but this year more
than ever because of the fact
last year was such a bad year for
us financially,” said West Indies
Cricket Chief Executive Officer,
Johnny Grave.
He said that TV rights takings
from hosting Sri Lankan
and Bangladeshi cricket teams in
2018, “are the worst value within
that deal.”
“Last year was financially horrible,”
he said, adding that on
the other hand, “this year with
England already here and India
coming after the World Cup, will
be a record year for the West
Indies.”
“It’s a big year of cricket, big
year financially and by the end
of it we’ll be back on an even keel
and looking ahead to the next
phase which is a new ODI league,
new Test championship and for
us a new TV deal.”
CWI President Wycliffe ‘Dave’
Cameron said, “the unfortunate
thing is that we only make
money from TV when we have
India or England and so our
inbound tours are very important
to us.”
A section of the crowd of locals and visitors at the fi rst One-
Day match between West Indies and England in Barbados
last week. Photo by George Alleyne
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