Digging a Hole to Fill a Hole?
Tue, Nov 16, '04
Contrary to what is being reported in the Trinidad Express, there is no agreement between the WICB and WIPA for a payment schedule to make up unpaid salaries and bonuses to West Indies players.
Quoting sources close to the WICB, the newspaper said an agreement is already in place with WIPA for a schedule of payment to begin the week of November 17. However, CaribbeanCricket.com understands that the November 17 date was a deadline given to the board by WIPA for the payment of "all monies" owed to the cricketers.
According to a WICB director sympathetic to the players' cause, WIPA has been sending letters and making numerous phone calls to the board to complain that players' match fees (and sponsorship bonuses) dating back to the England tour of the West Indies have not been paid.
In response to those queries, the WICB's chief financial officer Barry Thomas proposed a payment schedule to start on November 17, suggesting that the players will still have to wait longer to be fully paid.
The WICB director said WIPA responded and told the board that November 17 would be a drop-dead deadline for the payment of all monies owed.
As first reported by CaribbeanCricket.com, the WICB has still not paid match fees for the third and fourth Tests during the recent tour of England, match fees for the ICC Champions Trophy tournament, sponsorship shares from Sandals Resorts and LNM Group, and funds withheld from player salaries to cover fines and disciplinary infractions.
The WICB, through spokesman Leonard Robertson, refused to comment on the story. "We are not going to respond to unsourced reports," Robertson declared.
When told the issue of tardy player payments was indeed a legitimate issue, Robertson promised a press release would be issued sometime on Tuesday.
According to an insider, the board has been "consistently late" in paying monies owed to players. "They have been in breach of match and tour contracts on many occasions. I'm surprised the players haven't filed a lawsuit yet," one director said.
The source said that the board, on a recommendation from its Finance Committee, has secured a loan from a Barbados bank to deal with its known cash flow problems.
This new loan is closely tied to the US$8 million borrowed by the WICB in 2002 from Trinidad's First Citizens Trust and Merchant Bank (FCMB).
The terms of that loan called for no payments on interest or principal to be due for a period of two years after disbursement of the loan. The interest liability was to be capitalized semi-annually during the moratorium period. Repayment of principal commenced six months after the end of the two year moratorium in equal semi-annual payments.
The WICB used the proceeds from its 2000 television contract with BskyB as collateral for that loan. It covered revenues from the 2004 to 2007 home series (England, South Africa, India, Australia) and totaled in excess of US$20 million.
Now, the board has obtained an additional amount to facilitate overcoming the latest cash flow problems.
That additional amount is coming from a lender in Barbados who has expressed positive confidence in West Indies cricket based on the expected financial windfall from World Cup 2007. The bank in Barbados is set to take over the FCMB balance and provide the WICB with additional income which they need because of the cash flow position.
Not much is known of the amount or terms of the latest loan.