-CPL open to renegotiating 50-year deal says Russell
Viewed as a potential catalyst for a turnaround in fortunes for West Indies cricket, the CARICOM Regional Cricket Conference wrapped up yesterday at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Following two days of presentations and suggestions from various Prime Ministers of Caricom countries and legends of West Indies cricket ranging from Brian Lara to Joel Garner and Michael Holding, Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Dr. Kishore Shallow committed to making steps towards governance reform at the regional level.
Shallow, who took up the mantle of CWI Presidency in March of 2023, suggested a meeting with the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub Committee on Cricket and the Presidents of the various Territorial Boards in the Caribbean as soon as possible following the Cricket Conference with the aim of embracing governance reform, a problem that has long plagued West Indies cricket ranging from CWI itself to the local cricket systems in various Caribbean territories. “We have to embrace everything that persons have said at this forum and adapt these changes swiftly and hold each other accountable”, Shallow stated.
company and CWI, CPL CEO Pete Russell has
said that they are open to that renegotiation.
His commitment to governance reform comes after day one of the conference where past players and Head of States waded into the lack of transparency and inefficiency within cricket administration in the region.
Perhaps most telling, was Holding’s call on Thursday for the various heads of government to put pressure on the CWI board into overhauling its governance style.
A clearly emotional Holding pointed out, “We are just moving from one administration to another under the same system. The same lack of transparency”.
After Dr. Shallow’s commitment to overhauling the governance model of Cricket West Indies and its various territorial boards, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley (also Chair of the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub Committee on Cricket), expressed his pleasure at what Shallow said and noted that he intends to hold him to it.
Rowley also spoke about having had previous sit downs with former executives of CWI where the end result was naught with them being dismissive in the past. “Something will happen!”, PM Rowley declared.
On another note, since it was discovered that there is an existing 50-year contract between CWI and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), there has been a united stand by the CARICOM Heads of Government, calling on CWI to renegotiate what they view as a lopsided contract with CPL.
During a question and answer segment yesterday at the conference, CPL CEO Pete Russell dismissed opinions that CPL is the only beneficiary of the contract.
In defending the contract, the CPL CEO pointed out that if there are any financial fallouts, his company will bear the “brunt of any financial losses”.
Russell also noted that since the inception of CPL, the company has had accrued losses amounting to USD$40 Million.
Russell also revealed that CWI are 5% shareholders in the entity and explained that there are no financial burdens placed on CWI or any of its territorial boards.
Quizzed on whether or not his company would be open to examining the contract with the possibility of changes, Russell said that CPL is open to the idea. “We are part of CWI. If people think it is a problem with the 50-year deal, of course we’ll look at it. It works both ways. CPL doesn’t necessarily want to be in a 50-year contract where we are losing money. I think everyone just has to work together.”
The CARICOM Regional Cricket Conference was birthed as an initiative by the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket to address West Indies cricket’s state of affairs.
It was held under the theme “Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket”.
