PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Aug 11, CMC – Regional players’ union West Indies Players Association (WIPA) has disagreed with the West Indies Cricket Board’s move to hold on to a third of the half-million US-dollar participation fee for next month’s Airtel Champions League.
In a release on Wednesday, WIPA contended that no precedent had been set for the Board to retain any part of the fee and said this decision could affect Guyana’s cricket and its players adversely.
“WIPA is unaware of any other Board retaining any part of the participation fee,” the release pointed out.
“WIPA is of the view that retaining such a large sum could have a direct negative impact on Guyanese cricket and its players. In fact, WIPA understands that no monies were deducted from the TTCB (Trinidad board) for last year’s participation.”
Guyana captured the inaugural Caribbean Twenty20 Trophy last month to qualify for the club Champions League in South Africa but the US$500 000 paid to the WICB by organisers has become a source of contention.
The WICB announced last week it would retain a third of the participation fee to offset costs of staging last month’s tournament, before passing on the remaining two-thirds to the Guyana Cricket Board.
According to the WICB, the July 22-31 tournament played in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago was staged at a cost of US$2 million.
But WIPA, which is headed by president and chief executive Dinanath Ramnarine, contended that no financial figures from the tournament had yet been released to validate the WICB’s claims.
“The claimed justification by the WICB is that it incurred significant costs in hosting the recently concluded tournament,” the release continued.
“What the WICB has not revealed is the income it generated by the tournament from in particular ESPN, but also others.
“If the WICB has made a loss for organizing the recent tournament they should place all the financial information into the public domain to confirm their commitment to transparency and good governance.”
With respect to the remaining two-thirds of the participation fee, WIPA said it was concerned that the GCB had not yet responded to their proposals made 10 days ago as to how the monies were to be shared.
“This gives cause for concern bearing in mind the deadlines required of it to ensure the teams participation in the Airtel CLT20,” the release noted.
WIPA also took issue with the WICB’s claim that neither they nor the Guyana Cricket Board could negotiate the use of players’ image rights for the Champions League.
The players’ union argued that under the Team Participation Agreement, the WICB was obligated “to procure use of the Players Attributes to ensure the full and successful exploitation of the commercial rights.”
“Further, no other team negotiates with CLT20 (Champions League) for consideration of the obligations and restrictions of players – that is a matter (and quite rightly so) between the Board that is obligated to procure these rights, obligations and restrictions and the players and their player representatives through negotiations,” the release advanced.
“If we are to extend the thinking of the WICB, then does it expect the players/WIPA to negotiate directly with the ICC for the players’ involvement in any ICC event? This would be surprising as the Team Participation Agreement is based upon the Members Participation Agreement for ICC Events.
“The reason that the documents are drawn up as they are is that the Boards need to procure the rights from the players and then in turn the Boards pay consideration to the players for use of those rights from the monies they receive for the team’s participation.”
The WICB said late Wednesday, however, the fact they did not stage a T20 tournament in 2009 meant they were no costs incurred and therefore, could not retain a percentage of the participation fee associated with T&T’s outing in the tournament last year.
In relation to the players’ image rights, the WICB said that with Guyana having already signed the CLT20 Squad Terms, this allowed for CLT20 to use the players’ images in the tournament.
“With regard to the WICB being involved in the process for ICC tournaments this is simply because the team involved in the ICC tournaments is the West Indies cricket team for which the WICB has direct responsibilities,” WICB corporate communications officer Imran Khan said.
“With regard to the Airtel Champions League it is the GCB which has direct responsibilities for the Guyana Cricket Team, not the WICB.”
He added: “Further, if WIPA (as agent for WIPMACOL) wishes to engage in any discussions or negotiations with regard to compensation for use of players’ image rights – taking into consideration that the Guyana players have already agreed to their image rights being utilized by CLT20 by signing the Squad Terms – then WIPA must take this issue up with CLT20 directly, not the GCB nor the WICB.
“The WICB reiterates once again that it is neither the WICB nor the GCB which is utilizing the players’ image rights in relation to the Airtel Champions League.”
should all this not have agreed upon before staging the matches?. What of financial statements. When are these going to be seen.
WICB explains CLT20 participation fee issue Thu, Aug 12, ’10
*** (NB: This WICB article was obtained from http://caribbeancricket.com/news/2010/08/12/3042) ***
In response to several media queries, the WICB issues the following clarifications to two points raised in a WIPA press release issued on Wednesday August 11th.
WIPA press release: “The WICB has announced that it intends to retain one third of the participation fee of 500K. WIPA is unaware of any other Board retaining any part of the Participation Fee. WIPA is of the view that retaining such a large sum could have a direct negative impact on Guyanese cricket and its players. In fact, WIPA understands that no monies were deducted from the TTCB for last year’s participation.”
WICB clarification: In 2009 the WICB did not stage a regional Twenty20 Tournament and thus did not incur any costs associated with the staging of such a tournament. As a result the WICB did not retain any percentage of the CLT20 Participation Fee and it was passed on in full to the TTCB. This year the WICB did stage the Caribbean T20 Tournament at a cost of just over US$2million and the cumulated sponsorships for the tournament did not come close to covering the costs of staging the tournament. The WICB therefore staged the Caribbean T20 Tournament at a loss and thus the decision was taken to retain one third of the Participation Fee to assist in off-setting these costs.
WICB reiterates that the significantly larger portion of the Participation Fee – two thirds – will be passed on to the Guyana Cricket Board. The Participation Fee is paid by CLT20 to the WICB for nominating a team from the West Indies to participate in the Airtel Champions League.
The WICB has a record of publishing audited annual financial statements and when this is next done all monies received for sponsorships will be included as is the usual practice.
WIPA press release: “The WICB has further stated that neither it nor the GCB can negotiate the use of the players’ image rights and that negotiations should take place directly with the CLT20. WIPA doubts that this can be correct because the WICB is obligated under the Team Participation Agreement to procure use of the Players Attributes to ensure the full and successful exploitation of the commercial rights.”
WICB clarification: The WICB once again clarifies that the Guyana players have already signed the CLT20 Squad Terms. The Squad Terms, among other things, allow CLT20 to use the players’ images in relation to the tournament.
With regard to the WICB being involved in the process for ICC tournaments this is simply because the team involved in the ICC tournaments is the West Indies Cricket Team for which the WICB has direct responsibilities. With regard to the Airtel Champions League it is the GCB which has direct responsibilities for the Guyana Cricket Team, not the WICB.
Further, if WIPA (as agent for WIPMACOL) wishes to engage in any discussions or negotiations with regard to compensation for use of players’ image rights – taking into consideration that the Guyana players have already agreed to their image rights being utilized by CLT20 by signing the Squad Terms – then WIPA must take this issue up with CLT20 directly, not the GCB nor the WICB. The WICB reiterates once again that it is neither the WICB nor the GCB which is utilizing the players’ image rights in relation to the Airtel Champions League.