WICB Must Go Public

A one-wicket win over Bangladesh, and 47 runs in the second innings against England is not what I became accustomed to expecting from the West Indies in the 1970s and 1980s. It is now clear that injuries notwithstanding, our beloved team will have a lot of work to do in order to retain its pride of place as a major cricket power (long considered the Brazil of cricket) and effectively compete as the home team in the 2007 World Cup.

There are countless suggestions of actions necessary to get us back to the top. The missing ingredient is the money to implement. The ability to have a year-round retainer contract, a professional league, and improve the regional facilities can all be achieved, but the capital needs to be available to be invested, and invested quickly.

There is no doubt that the West Indies Cricket Board Inc. (WICB) is the trustee of a valuable brand and legacy, yet that brand and our pride are being eroded with no foreseeable end "around the corner". If we lose the ability to raise funds through marketing and television broadcast rights because we are no longer consistently competitive, then West Indies cricket would be set back for at least a decade. How do we arrest the decline?

It goes without saying that the goodwill that past teams and players have generated, together with the invincibility that not only surrounded our players but our collective psyche as a people, is hard to price in monetary terms. However, I believe that there is a way to harness the tremendous regional and international goodwill in a manner that allows us to invest heavily in the senior team, as well as the regional boards that feed through their best talent.

The WICB must go public, and offer shares to be traded on the regional stock exchanges. There ought to be a prospectus put together, outlining the value of the brand, the value to the people that are West Indian and that love West Indies cricket, and the real prospect of significant earnings as a result of the execution of the largest Cricket World Cup in history, as well as activities thereafter.

In fact, the World Cup provides a unique opportunity for our Board to demonstrate real potential earnings that are significant enough for a financial analyst to impartially be impressed by. Of course, every initial public offering (IPO) is based on the reputation of the entity to execute, the strength of the brand/product, and the prospect of growing earnings. Every major Test-playing nation has an established professional league. Our players benefited tremendously from exposure in the English County League in the past, as it was an opportunity to experience the rigour and discipline of playing the game on a full time basis. Ask Richards, Walsh, Holding or Sobers and they will tell you how important it was to the development and the honing of their supreme yet raw talent.

The only feasible way to introduce professional cricket throughout the West Indies before the World Cup, is to make a public offer for sale of shares in the WICB. This would greatly assist us in ensuring that we are able to groom, oversee and fully develop our talent pool in a competitive and contractual environment. It is just not good enough to have contract for each tour. Roger Harper bemoaned the fact that several players simply do not follow the fitness and training regimen once they left the tour. If such a player is under contractual obligation, it will no longer rest on the discipline or whim of that player and it will weed out those who lack the full commitment.

In fairness to our players in the modern world, it is time we seriously attempt to provide them with meaningful contracts that enable them to concentrate on cricket if that is their desired profession. It is actually past time, and we cannot continue to hope that our governments and sponsors will somehow find what is needed to allow us to establish such a league.

It is important to note that going public does not mean we will be selling off our birthright. No doubt, our governments, territorial boards and major financial institutions would be large subscribers of the offering, as a long-term investment. Also, it is for the board and its financial advisors to decide what percentage of the company they would wish to offer to the public. It is not unusual that founders/promoters of an IPO retain a controlling percentage of the company after going public.

The other major benefit is the fast tracking of the professionalism of the running of the WICB itself. All of a sudden the millions of us that are emotional shareholders will suddenly have the ability to truly own a piece of our cricket and the Board of Directors will have to bear scrutiny at an annual general meeting as to their actions, efforts and execution. Quite honestly, I would be happy to not earn any cash dividends from such shares, as the team has given me the dividends in the field.

Believe it or not, Microsoft, a huge public company that sits on more than US$30 billion of earnings, does not pay a dividend. There are several companies worldwide that are seen as valuable and good holdings even when they do not pay a dividend. So that would not be a deterrent to this IPO. And let us be clear ? every West Indian that has any understanding of cricket worldwide would want to do what he or she could to assist us to hold our heads high, consistently, again. There is no doubt that the emotional and intangible benefit derived from a winning West Indian team is not only worth the price of admission, but perhaps US$20 worth of shares in the WICB. Imagine the 8-12 million West Indians residents in and outside the diaspora, and perhaps another 100,000 persons, companies and investment firms that would be interested in the IPO.

It is not impossible to raise US$40-60 million with such an IPO listing on the three major exchanges in the Caribbean. The last IPO on the Jamaican Stock Exchange managed to raise approximately US$40 million. Obviously the current tax benefits that are enjoyed by the WICB would have to be negotiated in the country that it would be first listed. But the details can be developed by the best financial minds. The fact is that we can do it.

We should do it, now. We cannot continue to attempt to match the might of Australia, South Africa, India, England, New Zealand and Pakistan by trying to maintain a professional sport team playing at the highest level, through sponsorship and broadcast earnings. We must approach the matter as seriously as we approach the preparations to host the World Cup.

Some may suggest that we should wait until the World Cup 2007 has come and gone, at which point it is anticipated that the WICB and its territorial members will be in a financial position to embark on fundamental change. There are two reasons why we should not. The first is that to have a successful World Cup, the region needs a successful team. The potential damage to our self-esteem and expectations if the current slide and uncertainty continues, could well reflect in the level of interest and attendance at the matches. This will have a direct effect on the team. It will also affect the enjoyment of other supporters as a large part of the magic of West Indies cricket at home, are its supporters in full flight. And we need them to enjoy it so they will stay and spend, and return.

The second reason is that the United States Cricket Association, now a fledging body, intends to bring professional cricket to the US. And you know where they will be looking to for the pool of talent. It is a fact that players could be offered US$2 000 per match and lucrative contracts to play in the US. And while we disbelieve that this will happen anytime soon, we only need to look at the composition of the current US national team, the fact that the ICC has declared that it is very interested in promoting the game in the US, and the bid submitted by the City of Lauderhill in Florida to host a package in the World Cup. A player earning even US$1,000 per match is in stark contrast to what is now earned in playing the game in the region. Once the US is able to attract our best players, we may as well ask David Rudder to compose a fitting recessional hymn. The ship would have sunk. There is no doubt that the WICB and the territorial boards are making efforts to produce consistent and proud cricketers.

Natural talent abounds in our region, and we are able to identify it. But that is no longer enough, not consistently so.

* Roderick Gordon is a Director of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) and an attorney-at-law.