Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies yesterday said that the nine Caribbean countries hosting Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 are not satisfied with the revenue sharing arrangements with the International Cricket Council (ICC), and suggested that the courts could be asked to rule on the issue.

“There is a clear need to examine whether there is any legal recourse,” Davies said in response to questions raised by Opposition MP Clive Mullings (West Central St James) during the meeting of the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) of the House of Representatives, which began reviewing the 2007/2008 estimates of expenditure at Gordon House.

Mullings referred to a recent press article which suggested that the ICC, organisers of the tournament and world cricket’s governing body, will be making significantly more than US$550 million from its deal with ESPN STAR Sports, as its global media and production partner for audio-visual rights for its events, including CWC 2007, between 2007 and 2015. The previous deal with Global Cricket Corporation covering 2000-2007 had reaped US$550 million.

Mullings asked whether the article was correct and whether Caribbean governments would share in the windfall in light of the enormous debts they would be left with after hosting CWC 2007.

“I saw the report myself and I need to check the accuracy of that report,” Davies responded. “I can’t give you a definitive answer to either of those questions. I am aware that serious questions are being posed about the way in which the revenues are shared.”

Asked by Mullings whether the territories have a share of the broadcast rights, Dr Davies said, “not to my knowledge. I am informed that there may be a share of the gate receipts, but I don’t want to be quoted on that until I can ascertain that definitively”.

Jamaica, one of the nine Cricket World Cup host Caribbean countries, spent at least J$8 billion to prepare the country for the tournament. Of this amount, a combined US$60 million was spent on the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, which hosted warm-up games and the lavish opening ceremony, and on Sabina Park in Kingston where all Group D first-round matches were played. Region-wide, more than US$400 million was pumped into the staging of world cricket’s most prestigious tournament.

Mullings said he was concerned that while the countries, including Jamaica, have incurred those enormous debts to facilitate staging the event, “bearing in mind the pressures that our economies are under, wouldn’t it have been prudent to have ensured that we had a share in the monies as far as the broadcast rights are concerned?”

“I would agree with you,” Dr Davies responded. “Certainly, if all the terms and conditions were clear from the beginning, there would have been tougher bargaining. But one of the difficulties, particularly when you are dealing with 10, 12 different countries, and there was that initial bargaining and negotiation. let’s put it euphemistically: there clearly was room for improvement in that regard.”