Caribbean governments unhappy with World Cup revenue share

Jamaican finance minister Omar Davies said the nine Caribbean countries hosting World Cup are not satisfied with the revenue sharing arrangements by 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 Member of the Parliament Clive Mullings during the meeting of the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) of the House of Representatives, which began reviewing the 2007-08 estimates of expenditure at Gordon House.

Mullings referred to a recent press article which suggested that the ICC, organisers of the World Cup, will be making significantly more than $550 million from its deal with ESPN STAR Sports, as its global media and production partner for audio-visual rights for its events between 2007 and 2015.

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 the World Cup.

"I saw the report myself and need to check the accuracy of that report," Davies was quoted by the Jamaica Observer.

"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 if the territories have a share of the broadcast rights, 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 is one of the nine hosts of the World Cup in the Caribbean and they have spent at least $8 billion to prepare the country for the tournament.

A whopping $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 $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 ensure we had a share in the monies as far as the broadcast rights are concerned?" (IANS)

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