Last week Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced that contracted players would need to forego 25% of their annual retainer pay as part of the overall restructuring of finances as well as domestic cricket calendar. CWI CEO Chris Dehring said the pay cut was not "ideal but necessary for financial stability."
The development sparked several questions: Were the West Indies players consulted and did they have a say in the decision? What were they told were the specific reasons for the pay cut? Were they given enough time to consider before taking a call, did they have a choice of not signing, and is there a deadline set for signings? And importantly, will this latest move by CWI prove a deterrent for players and influence them to prioritise franchise T20 cricket over an annual retainer?
We posed all those pertinent questions to Dehring this week, who was candid in his response, explaining the specifics as well as why it was important for players and CWI to work together to find ways to tide over the financial crisis.
Can you tell us the timeline of the conversation CWI has had with WIPA (West Indies Players' Association) over the 25% pay cut?
There have been multiple discussions taking place with WIPA over several months, with the conversations on the immediate issues starting at least three or four months back. But remember, those conversations would have started even from last year, when we had to take the decision to reduce the number of matches in the first-class season as part of our cost-optimization program that we had started.
So we have been signalling to players, WIPA and everybody really, the financial challenges West Indies cricket has been facing for a while and the direction we were traveling. WIPA has been very much supportive and on board, even while vigorously interrogating our plans.
In respect to the most recent issues, one of the challenges we had, which delayed a final agreed position, was that we were all waiting to see what was happening in the Indian TV market. Obviously like every other cricket board, your cash-flow is very dependent on when India tours, with the expectation that those television revenues would help to offset the cash-flow challenges created by the heavy losses from other tours.
This fiscal year (2026), we had Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand. From a revenue perspective, that's like death, destruction and Armageddon because there's just no money coming out of those markets for your TV broadcast. But you still have to spend millions to produce because of contractual obligations and requirements like DRS, Hawkeye and everything else that you have to deliver. But you are not going to get any revenues out of those three markets to even cover TV production costs.
So we have been monitoring the Indian TV market situation for some time given the scheduled Indian tour next year (2027), and being very transparent with WIPA, who would have been keeping their members apprised. Not all the international players are members of WIPA, so there might be some gaps.
Did you address the players directly?
Last Wednesday (September 23rd) we held a zoom call involving CWI, WIPA and both male and female players. There were over 96 participants in that video conference, where we outlined the plans, explained the situation, and answered questions. The CWI President (Kishore Shallow), the Director of Cricket (Miles Bascombe) and I were on that call along with the WIPA president (Wavell Hinds) and secretary (Wayne Lewis).
So it's been several months since we have been trying to work through our projections for next year, which would inform this next round of player contracts, and what was likely to be available for distribution. The players' payment pool, which is agreed in the MoU, is 25% of CWI's revenue.
As it turns out, the players' payment pool (for next year) is significantly higher, running closer to 35%, mainly because of the lower projections from the Indian tour due to the well-documented challenges in the Indian TV market at the moment. That overpayment amounts to an extra $15 million for the players that CWI has had to fund.
And so that's why we are taking these tough but necessary decisions on the cost side of the business now, but it's not in isolation of all the other initiatives on the revenue growth side of the operation.
Those initiatives announced are equally important to highlight, as they demonstrate the commercial ambition of CWI to change our circumstances. That includes the multi-million dollar infrastructure developments to modernize and upgrade training facilities that will be available to male and female cricketers of every age group in the production pipeline; the repositioning and expansion of our TV broadcast and streaming content strategy, initiatives designed to expand our commercial market to include larger economies in the growing Americas region and the generation of greater national resources from individual countries under the CWI umbrella.
For example, we intend to hold an invitational Olympic qualification tournament that replaces the Super50 ODI tournament this fiscal year, where the ten countries under the aegis of CWI with Olympic affiliation will be required to pay their own way to participate and qualify for the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles.
Has WIPA told you whether players agreed to sign or is the negotiation still going on?
WIPA has agreed with us on the domestic side, and we informed them what we're able to afford on the international side. So really that is now up to individual players to determine whether or not they would like to sign international contracts that have been offered to them.
With regards to them being able to earn outside of West Indies cricket in other lucrative leagues around the world, we have always been very understanding, allowing players leeway where we can. WIPA and ourselves have also discussed various options to seek amicable compromise before coming to an agreement.
For instance, rather than reducing the number of players contracted, we agreed a reduction in the months contracted for domestic players, and a reduction in the fees for international players. That way more players retain the benefit of central contracts.
Of course, we would prefer them to play for the West Indies at all times as a priority, but we also understand that there are opportunities around the world for them to apply their trade. At the same time, we believe there should be some level of obligation to give back to the institution that is West Indies cricket, which facilitated the opportunity for them to earn from cricket. We believe by and large, the players understand that obligation.
Is there a deadline that has been set by CWI for players to sign?
Given the timing, and the ongoing India series, we don't want players to feel there is the proverbial gun to their head to sign contracts that have been offered. It's an important and considered decision for them to make, discuss it with their agents, their lawyers, so we have given them two weeks to review.
And they can decide whether or not they choose to be internationally contracted players. That would not preclude them from being selected to represent West Indies, or making themselves available to West Indies. So, we will wait to hear from those players that have been offered international contracts as to whether they are accepting or not. And then, we will get them approved at CWI Board level, and announce those players.
Our final agreement wouldn't have been concluded with WIPA until the weekend of the CPL final, where we all met in Barbados to put the final touches on our agreement. It was kind of negotiation where we all were very collaborative. Obviously, WIPA was trying to negotiate the best for the players, but they also recognize that there's only a certain envelope of funds, and therefore, some will go to the current players as fees, but some must go to the next generation of players in the form of development tournaments and so on.
West Indies cricket has been through tough times before, and no doubt the current evolution of the global cricket industry is posing challenges to all the smaller boards in world cricket. But we can and will adapt to whatever evolves and collectively, we have every confidence we can preserve the legacy of this amazing institution.
Would these cuts apply to the CWI staff too?
Every cost line item is being examined and reduced. Obviously, concerning the staff, we have labor laws, contracts, etc. given that they're unionised, so we have to go through certain processes including consultations with the union in Antigua which we have had. But there is no expense line item untouched. There's an entire re-engineering of the operation taking place. And it's something that we assured the players too, that they don't want to know that it's just them that are feeling the pinch.
On Monday (September 28) we had the CWI Board meeting and it was a big part of the agenda where the Board was keen to ensure that we were not just cutting payments to players and cricket, but that we were truly re-organising the entire operation. We have even brought onboard international consulting firm Teneo, to thoroughly examine the organization from head to toe, as we are serious about creating greater efficiency to deal with the new paradigm impacting world cricket.