PORT-OF-SPAIN
(Trinidad Express):
THE CRICKET World Cup (CWC) 2007 Inc. is pulling out all the stops to ensure profitability in the region, and to protect the rights of sponsors when the event touches down in the Caribbean in March 2007.
Stephen Price, special events officer of CWC 2007, went into some detail in outlining the measures the World Cup management committee would be implementing to ensure smooth running of the event as they hosted the 'Stakeholders Road Show' at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
WEST INDIANS SHOULD BENEFIT
Price highlighted the importance for West Indian people to benefit from hosting the Cricket World Cup, which he said was the basis for the Caribbean Economic Enterprise Initiative.
The initiative seeks to ensure long-term benefits for the region, not only financially, but in the sharing of knowledge, as well as the experience of staging an event of such magnitude.
Thus, any tasks being contracted to foreign companies must be sub-contracted to smaller units within the region to ensure their involvement and, consequently, monetary benefit and increased knowledge base.
Price also pointed out the committee had paid great attention to the running of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, and expressed several undertakings that are necessary for safeguarding sponsors' interests.
Some of the main areas with which he expressed concern included "ambush marketing", as well as counterfeit merchandise.
ILLEGAL ADVERTISING
One of the examples he gave was an incident where a company in Antigua was advertising a 'Cricket World Cup mortgage' without being given the rights to do so.
Price also warned against congratulatory advertisements, which are quite common in the Caribbean, and announced that some of the measures being taken to counteract such advertising included monitoring the Internet, as well as having 'spotters' on the lookout for counterfeit merchandise. The committee have also hired a full slate of lawyers to pursue legal action if necessary.
