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In the world of cricket, whenever a bilateral series or match is played between India and West Indies (IND vs WI), the stadiums are packed with spectators, crores of people watch the match on TV and such rivers of money flow through broadcasting and advertisements that BCCI and the host board become rich. But behind this bright and dazzling world lies a bitter, shocking and painful truth which cricket lovers will be shocked to hear. Despite huge earnings of hundreds of crores of rupees from this high-profile series with India, the West Indies Cricket Board (CWI) is not going to earn a single penny. While disclosing this, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Caribbean Cricket Board has openly expressed his pain and his financial helplessness to the world. Let us take a deeper look from the perspective of a sports and business reporter to know the real inside story behind this entire financial crisis and the financial equation of cricket.
There was a time when the West Indies team ruled world cricket and the fear of their players was ingrained in the minds of batsmen and bowlers all over the world. But with the passage of time, the golden era of Caribbean cricket was left behind and today their board is going through a serious financial crisis. Today the situation is such that to pay salaries to the players on time, conduct domestic cricket and strengthen the basic cricket infrastructure, the West Indies Board has to lend a helping hand to others or take a loan. In such a situation, when there is a series with India, every common man thinks that the Caribbean board’s coffers will also be filled with money from this billion-trillion industry. But the reality is exactly the opposite, which is considered one of the biggest ironies in the sports world.
The revenue distribution rules of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the model of broadcasting rights of bilateral series are responsible for this surprising financial equation. As per the rules of the current commercial agreements, when the Indian team tours West Indies or the West Indies team comes to India, most of the bumper earnings from TV rights, digital streaming rights and advertisements of that series go to the board of the host country. When the series is held in India, all the profits go to the BCCI, and even when the series is held in the West Indies, the deals for local broadcasting rights there are sold at such low prices that they are like cum in the camel’s mouth compared to the BCCI or other rich boards. The CEO of the West Indies Board expressed his pain that he does not have direct access to the crores of rupees earned from advertisements and global media rights that are earned during this series in India.
The CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board, pouring his heart out during an interview, said that the unequal distribution of global cricket revenue is a major reason for the plight that Caribbean cricket is going through today. He clarified that when a cricket team as big and financially powerful as India has its players sweating on the field and getting record breaking viewership all over the world, the board gets only enough money to cover its basic costs. When crores of rupees are earned from this series across the world, West Indies cricket fans expect that their board will be getting rich, but in reality it becomes difficult to even pay the match fees of the players. This statement of the CEO has become a huge debate point in the international cricket fraternity whether rich boards should not come forward to help poor and struggling cricket boards financially.
Cricket world experts believe that if historically important cricket boards like West Indies, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Ireland are not rescued from such financial crisis, then the thrill of Test cricket and bilateral series will end in the future. In today’s era, young players, seeing the glitter of money, are increasingly moving towards T20 leagues because the national boards are unable to provide them that financial security. If a fair share of the huge profits earned from the matches between India and West Indies is invested in the development of Caribbean cricket and in nurturing the young talent there, then West Indies cricket can again regain its old glory. At present, this painful revelation of the CEO has once again increased the murmur among the cricket boards regarding the revenue sharing model, on which there is every possibility of a big discussion in the ICC meetings in the coming time.