Tony Becca
THE multimillion-dollar Stanford 20/20 extravaganza is set to take place on November 1, and despite the ruling by London's High Court, a ruling which went against the West Indies Cricket Board, with hardly a change.
The match, with the richest prize money in cricket, a mouth-watering US$20 million, is the brain-child of billionaire Allen Stanford, it was billed as a contest between England and the Stanford Allstars, the West Indies board was asked to sanction it and the board not only sanctioned but also agreed to make all its players available for the event.
After that, however, it was rumoured that Stanford would be selling branding to Cable & Wireless for the event and, according to the WICB's sponsors, Digicel, they wrote to the WICB reminding the body of the contract, asking it to ensure that its rights be protected, but it got no reply - not one single word.
Exclusive rights
According to Digicel, regardless of the disguise, by whatever name it was called, the Stanford Allstars is a West Indies team, it, Digicel, had the sole and exclusive rights to branding for every team, by whatever name, playing under the West Indies banner, and it insisted on its branding during the Stanford 20/20 event.
With Stanford saying that was not so and refusing to bend, Digicel sent a proposed compromise to the board. The compromise suggested that the Stanford 20/20 team wear official West Indies kit with Digicel branding, that no telecommunications company be involved in the event and that Digicel's costs be paid by the board. Stating that the Stanford team was selected solely by Stanford 20/20, Stanford replied saying that it would not deal with Digicel's competitors, that it would pay all Digicel's costs, and that it would give Digicel some branding rights during the 2008 event.
Branding
Digicel replied, no thank you.
According to Digicel, it wanted the same branding on the Stanford shirts that it has on the West Indies shirts, and it wanted it for the five years of the Stanford event.
According to Stanford, Digicel did not have that right, that would never happen, that was when things really fell apart, and a few days ago the court ruled in favour of Digicel.
The London High Court ruled that Digicel, based on its contract with the West Indies board, had exclusive branding rights to West Indies teams, not surprisingly and especially so when all things are considered, that the Stanford 20/20 team was in fact a West Indies team, and that the West Indies board withdraw its sanction of the event and also its contracted players.
Money, however, talks, and after winning the ruling, after putting the poor West Indies board in its place, after losing the ruling, Digicel and Stanford have come together, they have looked at the benefits for each other and, according to reports, in the interest of each other, they have agreed on the same compromise that one had proposed, that the other had rejected, and have decided that the event will go on.
Showpiece
In other words, Stanford will get his heart's desire - a showpiece for the world to admire, something to massage his ego and something from which he will make some more money. Digicel will get its branding during the richest match of all time which will be televised right around the world and by allowing its contracted players to participate in the event, the West Indies board, apparently, will still get there share of US$3.5 million.
In many respects, the West Indies board, which sat idly by, hardly did a thing during the impasse, and has been ordered to pay costs, must be blamed for yet another of its countless embarrassments.
It appears that it did not know what the contract with Digicel said - either that or the West Indies board, in need of money, simply decided to try a thing, to sell the same thing twice.
Standford's offer
With the West Indies board to collect US$3.5 million of the US$20 million, it could be simply that Stanford's offer, plus the prize of US$1 million to each player on the winning team could be the reason why the board decided to sanction the match, to make its contracted players available, and to bluff Digicel.
No one knows why the board ended up in a mess that sees it shelling out money for costs instead of getting money to improve the game but, based on the past, on such problems as those with its previous sponsors and with the players association a few years ago, as that which sees it and the Jamaica Cricket Association turning a blind eye to the report that Xavier Marshall tested positive recently for drugs, it is not surprising.
The WICB has a history of going for the biggest bidder regardless, and it also has a history of sweeping things under the carpet, including the behaviour of players.
Lessons to be learnt
It is time, however, that it learns from its mistakes - from past experiences. Hopefully, for example, it will learn from this one, and will now know who, despite all the talk, in spite of all the PR, are its true friends.
Cricket is cricket, business is business, and sometimes, in the best interest of each other, the two go together and work together. This time, however, that was not the case - at least it did not seem so. This time the stakes were too high for both Digicel and Stanford to think about the West Indies board or about West Indies cricket.
Years ago, what has happened would not have happened, including a former employee, the board's recent corporate secretary, probably encouraged so to do by its sponsors, turning up and giving evidence against the board.
That, probably, was, for the board, the biggest embarrassment of all.
