Carib govt’s knew what they were getting into, says Dehring
CHRIS Dehring has stopped short of branding as disingenuous the impression of ignorance about the requirements for hosting Cricket World Cup 2007 that is slowly emerging from within Caribbean governments.
In a letter to the Observer, responding to what he said were “various articles on the chronology of the hosting of the Cricket World Cup”, Dehring, the managing director & CEO of the ICC Cricket World Cup WI 2007 Inc – the firm formed by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to manage the event – said that each host country knew what they were getting into.
“WICB and CWC 2007 Inc wished to ensure that countries knew and understood beforehand what they were undertaking in deciding whether or not to bid to host matches in the Cricket World Cup,” Dehring said. “Each country was provided with a 298-page Bid Book, which contained the technical specifications and requirements of hosting the event and a Host Venue Agreement (HVA) which mirrored WICB’s and ICC’s obligations in the HA and MRA, respectively.”
The MRA (Master Rights Agreement) set out the terms and conditions of the tournaments, which the ICC (International Cricket Council) was mandated to deliver in order to receive US$550 million under an exclusive commercial rights deal with Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) running from 2001 to 2007.
On April 3, Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies had indicated that the nine Caribbean countries hosting the Cricket World Cup were not satisfied with the revenue-sharing arrangements with the ICC, organisers of the tournament and world cricket’s governing body.
Davies was responding to questions raised by Opposition parliamentarian Clive Mullings regarding the US$550-million rights deal.
Dehring, in his letter, did not give a breakdown of the proposed revenue share, offering only that “The host of each ICC tournament, along with the 98-member countries of the ICC, receive a pre-determined share of that US$550 million as each tournament is staged”.
He said that in addition to their share of the commercial rights, the tournament hosts retained other ancillary rights such as ticket revenues, licensing and merchandising.
“In 2003, the WICB signed the Host Agreement (HA) with the ICC for the event, which, for obvious reasons, mirrors the MRA,” said Dehring. “The HA outlines the terms and conditions which the ICC, and consequently any host of an ICC tournament, must deliver in order to satisfy the MRA.”
Minister Davies, in his exchange with Mullings earlier this month, had said that “if all the terms and conditions were clear from the beginning, there would have been tougher bargaining”.
But Dehring said that while it was reasonable to question whether the WICB could have negotiated different terms in the HA in 2003 from what the ICC had already contractually committed to in its MRA two years before, it would have been highly unlikely as a new deal would have to be agreed with the GCC with the possibility of the ICC suffering financial losses.
