West Indies Cricket Board broadcast partner, regional pay-television broadcaster Digicel SportsMax, has expressed its concern to the governing body following the collapse of the West Indies’ tour to India.
The West Indies team, led by captain Dwayne Bravo, last week declined to fulfil a remaining itinerary of a one-day international, a Twenty20 international and three Test matches due to an ongoing payment dispute with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and the board centred around a new collective bargaining agreement and memorandum of understanding (MoU).
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has subsequently withdrawn from bilateral tours to the West Indies and announced plans to sue for losses of $60m (€46.9m) in sponsorship and broadcasting revenue – courses of action that would have a potentially crippling effect on the WICB.
The West Indies’ forthcoming tour of South Africa is in doubt in light of recent events and Sportsmax, which holds the broadcast rights to the matches, is concerned by a knock-on effect with its sponsors.
Oliver McIntosh, chief executive of Digicel Sportsmax, told the Reuters news agency: “We are due to broadcast West Indies tour of South Africa in December and January. We have invested a lot of money in the rights and in the talent.
“We have started marketing it, we have sponsors on board and if that doesn't happen, you totally retract, you have to go back to sponsors and give back money. We are worried. It does impact our audience. If West Indies cricket is no longer on, that is a big blow for us, a big blow.”
McIntosh hopes the current impasse will encourage commercial backers to put pressure on the WICB to implement significant change
“What has to happen in this case is that the private interests have to get involved and say, 'look, if I have a stake here, if you want me to stay involved and want me to continue to help funding the cricket, this is how it has to go',” he said.
“The board has to be restructured. You need to get some independent people on the board who are not going to run it on a country basis. Whenever there is a new president elected and he is from Jamaica, then the CEO comes from Jamaica and then if he's from St Lucia then it's a St.Lucian.
“It has to be what is best for cricket and developing cricket. I think that private interests are going to have to get involved in saying it is not going to work (like this).”
International telecommunications company Digicel last month acquired St. Lucia-based International Media Content, the parent company of SportsMax. Digicel is also the long-term main sponsor of West Indies cricket and will seek clarity on the situation in the near future.
A Digicel statement read: “Like all cricket fans, we're disappointed when matches don't happen. To be clear, our contract is with the WICB. And it is with the WICB that we must have a discussion. As such, we will not be commenting for the time being.”