New Delhi: Cricket West Indies CEO Chris Dehring has criticised the revenue model for bilateral cricket that allows the host country to keep 100 per cent of the series earnings, citing the ongoing white-ball engagement with India from which his nation would “get nothing” from the expected USD 20 to 30 million returns.
The West Indies are due to play the fifth and final T20I of the ongoing series on Saturday in Bengaluru.
Speaking to Wisden’s ‘The Scoop’, Dehring said the model that was adopted in 1997 essentially triggered the demise of the game in the Caribbean.
“West Indies cricket receives nothing in this case, because the series is being played in India. A series that could generate USD 20 million to USD 30 million in India brings West Indies cricket no revenue,” Dehring said.
“To understand how this happened, you have to go back to 1997. I was fortunate, or unfortunate, to be around when the ICC member countries voted to change the financial model that underpinned world cricket.
“Until then, West Indies was a very attractive team, and everybody wanted us to tour. We would receive a touring fee, which was often worth more than we could earn by hosting a series in the Caribbean,” he recalled.
Dehring said CWI was outvoted in the ICC board at that time and it caused lasting damage to the game in the Caribbean islands.
From being a robust cricketing powerhouse, the West Indies have declined across formats. The CWI has also faced repeated financial crisis and player dissatisfaction with wages, leading to revolts and the growing trend of T20 freelancers there.
The Board was recently forced to announce pay cuts and shorter contracts for its players due to the lingering financial issues.
“It (the 1997 decision) was palpably unfair. We were outvoted nine to one by the ICC member countries. At the time, I said that this decision had effectively signed the demise of West Indies cricket because it took away our main source of income,” Dehring said.
“That meant India could retain the revenues generated by a population of one and a half billion people, while West Indies could retain whatever revenues we could generate in Antigua, with its population of around 100,000, or St Kitts, with around 30,000,” he explained.
Former CWI President Dave Cameron has also made similar assertions in recent media interactions, describing the revenue sharing model as frustrating.
The West Indies’ current share in overall ICC revenue is about 5 per cent, while India gets the biggest share of little over 38 per cent owing to its larger market and higher profit generation.