CWI to enter sports tourism market by building high-tech facility at Coolidge
Dehring: “Construction of that will start this year; plans are very advanced."
Cricket West Indies CEO Chris Dehring has revealed the organization has "advanced" plans to build a state-of-the-art high-performance facility at their headquarters in Antigua, for which construction will begin later this year. The structure will be equipped to facilitate multi-sport activities and be made available for use by different teams.
“It's going to be available not just for the West Indies team, obviously, which is our priority, but for teams around the world to come here and train and develop,” Dehring began. “It will include a sports science lab, recovery and relaxation, wellness, and facilities that can be used by other professional teams outside of cricket. It is going to be equipped with the very latest in high technology for cricket training [and more].”
Speaking at the Quarterly Press Conference on Friday, Dehring disclosed that CWI has been seeking ways to leverage Brand West Indies to climb out of its current financial hole. For this, the governing body has decided to break into the sports tourism industry, which he describes as “the fastest-growing segment of global sports.”
“I've had conversations with people like Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Jason Holder and some of the more current West Indians who are plying their trade around the world, just trying to get to understand the kind of facilities and the kind of resources that they're able to avail themselves of when they're on tour,” Dehring shared.
He acknowledged that the move has been inspired by the United Arab Emirates's use of the sector. “It has been in things like high-performance centres and academies where regions such as the UAE have dominated the world of cricket, where the touring teams are scheduling pre-season camps in these places because they have those facilities," he explained.
Dehring credited preceding administrations for managerial foresight, including the decision that led to the acquisition of a physical base of operations, the estate that will accommodate this new project. “We have a 20-acre property that we have gotten 100 percent control of this year,” he revealed. “So we are going to be building out the first true high-tech, state-of-the-art, high-performance centre right here in Antigua."
Dehring, who is expecting the new venture to yield “significant commercial returns” that would have been impossible years ago, says CWI aims to capitalize on teams' “reluctance” to travel to West Asia, given the ongoing political tension. “Unfortunately, for our brothers and sisters in the UAE, they now have a war taking place there,” he said. “It is actually an opportunity for the Caribbean. They have established themselves as a hemispheric global hub for cricket and cricket development on that side of the world. Well, it is our intention, along with the government of Antigua and Barbuda, to establish the Caribbean as the global and hemispheric hub for cricket on this side of the world.”
Dehring has also assured that they have already begun the process of acquiring funding to execute the project. “Funding is very advanced,” he stated. “The reality is that you are able to get funding for infrastructure projects, and that's not unique to the Caribbean; that's a global phenomenon. Infrastructure projects excite financiers and investors because they're of a more permanent nature.”