BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Chief executive Johnny Grave is confident a “record year” of revenues can transform Cricket West Indies’ finances crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic, and return the organisation to sustainability.
Pointing to major money-spinning home tours this year, along with disbursements from the International Cricket Council, Grave said CWI could find itself with a major surplus which would go towards wiping out deficits incurred due to the last two years of the global pandemic. And barring any hiccups, Grace stressed that 2022 could be the first of three straight years of robust revenues for the regional governing body.
“I think if we have a very good year this year and everything goes to plan, potentially by the end of this year we could be looking to get back to that par score and if not, very soon after,” the Englishman told Starcom Radio’s Mason and Guest cricket show.
“We’re focussed very much now on delivering a record year of revenues to the organisation and more importantly, a record surplus that would lead to reverse the majority of the deficit we’ve built up during this very difficult two-year period under COVID.
“And with 2023 looking like a good year both in terms of our international home series and a bumper year for the ICC with the final year of their current commercial cycle ending with the 50-over World Cup – their most economically-generating event and it happening in the biggest market [of] India – 2023 will be a very big year for the ICC.
He continued: “[It will be] a record year and therefore good for us in terms of record distributions, coinciding with a strong Future Tours programme for the men’s team.
“With the news that we’re hosting the men’s T20 World Cup in 2024, there’s a good and strong year forecast then so all being well – touch wood – we’ll have three very strong years and massively repair the balance sheet and get the organisation completely back on track from a financial perspective.”
CWI’s income vanished in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, the organisation forced to scrap all its revenue-generating home tours as international travel slowed to a crawl amid government-enforced lockdowns across the globe.
The Antigua-based body was forced to announce major cuts, slashing all salaries by 50 per cent and also reducing all cricket-related funding across the region. Tours of the region last year by Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and Pakistan marked a return to normalcy but it was the much-vaunted England red and white ball tours this year – before packed stadiums – which proved a major boost for CWI.
Grave said powerhouses India’s arrival in the Caribbean later this year would also add to the financial recovery.
“In terms of Cricket West Indies [revenues], it is very simple,” he explained.
“The tours are India and England so we’re hoping that India coming in August of this year will be a massive boost and will allow us on the back of that England tour, both in T20s and Tests, to have a record year from a financial perspective.
“We’re also hoping to welcome back India for Test matches and white-ball cricket in 2023 so it should also be a very strong year.”
Grave said with two World Cups – the T20 showpiece in Australia this October and next year’s 50-over version in India – the ICC would also enjoy an uptick in finances which would redound to CWI’s benefit.
“We’re hoping for as much as US$10 million more in 2023 compared to the previous years,” he said.
“We may not get the money immediately because it might flow into the next financial year in terms of receiving the cash but in terms of actual sums, that’s what we’re looking at for 2023 … which will be well needed in terms of repairing our balance sheet.”