C&W Responds to Digicel Accusations
Did Cable & Wireless deliberately sign endorsement deals with individual West Indies cricketers to scupper rival Digicel's contract with the WICB? Did C&W notify the WICB of its intent and plans? Can C&W-sponsored players meet their obligations to the WICB when Digicel is the major sponsor?
In this interview, senior vice president of corporate marketing of Cable & Wireless (Caribbean) Rachelle Franklin ponders those questions and outlines the company's position...
On C&W losing the WICB sponsorship to its biggest competitor, Digicel...
We did not lose the deal. We made a conscious decision to sponsor the ICC World Cup in 2007. We walked away from the series sponsorship and invested heavily to be a regional telecoms sponsor of the World Cup 2007, the biggest sporting event to be hosted in the region.
The World Cup in 2007 is a showpiece for the people of the Caribbean and this is an opportunity, in our opinion, to take a legacy of partnership with cricket to the next level.
On Digicel's accusations that Cable & Wireless has no interest in West Indies cricket...
How can anyone question our commitment? When you think of cricket in the West Indies, you think about Cable & Wireless. That's a fact. We have been a leading partner in one of the longest-running cricket sponsorships in the world. We have sponsored the West Indies cricket home series for the last 18 years.
In the last ten years alone, we have invested over $35 million in West Indies cricket. We were there when no one wanted to make the long term commitment to West Indies cricket. We are still there, investing in making the World Cup the best World Cup ever.
We see the World Cup as a showcase not only for cricket in the West Indies, but for the larger Caribbean. Our record in support of West Indies cricket speaks for itself.
How many West Indies cricket tournaments have Digicel sponsored in the last 17 years? How can Digicel question our commitment?
On the perception that the signing of individual players to endorsement deals was a direct reaction to being replaced as the major WICB sponsor by Digicel...
That's a misperception. It was not reactionary at all. It was a strategic decision to go after the World Cup sponsorship and that's a decision we are pleased and excited about. Once we decided to go after the World Cup, we had to sign up individual players because the World Cup sponsorship did not include private rights.
Our World Cup contract is very much like any other major event contract. If you sponsor the Olympics, for instance, you get the rights to certain things associated with the Olympics. It does not give you rights to athletes. It's the same thing here; our World Cup deal did not give us rights to teams and players.
We really needed to negotiate some player contracts in order for us to have activation elements leading up to the World Cup.
This issue of private endorsements is not a new thing to Cable & Wireless. We had an existing player partnership with Brian Lara that has been very successful. We expanded that relationship because it was in line with our decision to do the World Cup. We expanded it to include other players who, in our opinion, would play a role in 2007.
Even when we were the major sponsor for the home series, we had to pay the players to do promotion in their private capacity. There is a clear difference between those two things and that's a distinction that the WICB is well aware of.
On discussions with the WICB concerning individual player contracts...
Throughout this entire process, we have been very transparent. At every step of the way, we notified the WICB about what we were doing. They were very aware of the fact that we were contemplating the World Cup and going in a different direction. When we announced our World Cup sponsorship, we announced that we had secured individual sponsorships. It was no secret to anyone.
The WICB knew exactly what we were doing. We met with them to discuss certain parameters because we anticipated there would be problems down the road. The WICB will not deny any of this.
We had discussions with them where we explained what we had acquired from the players and we made certain proposals to avoid conflict. The CEO said he'd discuss it with the board and get back to us. He came back and said they can't recognise those deals.
On the timing of the player endorsement contracts and the reaction of the WICB...
We had an existing relationship with Brian Lara going back to 2002. That contract gave us an option to renew and we chose to exercise it earlier this year. That contract, including the option to renew, was blessed by the WICB.
When we were negotiating with the ICC to do the World Cup and we realised we needed to secure certain individual rights, we identified a core of players who we thought would be around to play a major role in the World Cup.
Between April and May of this year, we signed our World Cup sponsorship and we signed the deals with the players (Lara, Gayle, Sarwan, Bravo, Rampaul, Dwayne Smith, Edwards and Omari Banks).
It is my understanding, based on what's in the public media, that Digicel completed and signed the terms and conditions of their contract long after our contracts. They did that with the knowledge of the fact that we had already contracted these individual players. The WICB will not doubt any of this. They are aware of them and understood exactly what we acquired. They did not have to approve the contracts since these were private deals that did not involve the team or the WICB.
On whether players contracted to C&W can fulfil their obligations to a team sponsored by Digicel...
We have individual, personal sponsorships. As private citizens, the players have the choice to endorse whatever company they want to endorse. As a member of the team, they have obligations and we recognise that. That's why we met with the WICB in the first place to outline our position as it relates to the team sponsorship. We wanted everyone to be on the same page about what could or could not be done.
We will never put undue pressure on the players. This is all about benefiting West Indies cricket. I'd hope that we all could work together to ensure West Indies cricket is successful and leave the players to focus on what's critical to that success.
For the WICB, this might be a new world of sports sponsorship. But, for us, this is the way sports sponsorships are done all over the world. It is not unusual for one company to have a sponsorship with an association, a team or a governing body, and for a competing sponsor to have deals with individual players.
In the NBA, LeBron James has an individual deal with Powerade while the NBA's official drink is Gatorade. He fulfils both obligations without conflict. Why is it a problem for the WICB? This happens all over the world in every major sport.