(Trinidad Express) Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced the end of the arrangement that had Sandals Resorts International as the principal partner of West Indies cricket for the last four years.
Sandals became CWI’s principal partner, enjoying branding rights across all West Indies men’s, women’s and age-group teams in 2017, a partnership extended by a further year during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A CWI release said the partnership with Sandals was “part of the incredible legacy of the late Sandals’ Chairman, Gordon “Butch” Stewart, who was a life-long supporter of West Indies cricket and who made sure that the Sandals brand stood proudly on the shirts of all West Indian cricketers, continuously over the past four years.”
CWI said further: “Sandals’ financial contribution through the most recent four-year period of commercial sponsorship, provided much needed capital to CWI for investing in players and tournaments across all formats of the game. Sandals had also previously entered into shorter-term sponsorships with CWI on a number of specific tours to the UK, one of the major tourism markets where Sandals received significant return on investment from their partnership with West Indies cricket.”
CWI chief executive Johnny Grave added: “Over the course of many years CWI and Sandals were able to achieve many positives, including the fact that it was CWI and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), who one year ago jointly led the resumption of international cricket at all levels following the initial pandemic shutdown. Sandals’ encouragement and support for that historic CWI decision to tour the UK was much appreciated.”
Meanwhile, CWI announced a new partnership with Apex Group Ltd., a global financial services provider. A CWI release said that the partnership will see Apex as the exclusive shirt sponsor for the West Indies Men’s team during the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, as part of a broader Official Sustainability Partnership with CWI. It is believed to be the first sustainability partnership of its kind in international cricket.
The release said that the Apex logo will appear on the leading arm of the defending T20 World Champions’ shirts for the duration of the West Indies ICC 2021 World Cup campaign. Apex will also provide sustainability and environmental advisory services to CWI over a three-year period as its Exclusive Sustainability Partner. By providing CWI with annual carbon footprint assessments, Apex will also help the organisation lead the way in driving sustainability in cricket across the region by putting in place an action plan to reduce and offset climate altering outputs.
