By Rawle Toney

DESPITE T20 Cricket being more popular than the game’s longer format, according to CEO of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Johnny Grave, it is Test cricket that stands a better chance of being more marketable without fans.

Grave, speaking at a Webinar hosted by the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) to discuss the effects of the coronavirus on sports in the region, explained that from a business perspective, Test Cricket and not T20 will be a better product to market behind closed doors.

Using West Indies tour of England which starts on July 8 as an example, Grave revealed that based on information received recently the series stands to be more commercially popular in India and the sub-continent than an Ashes Series, which is seen as the pinnacle of Test Cricket.

“I think our four-day/five-day cricket would be a better product on TV. I think as you go into the shorter format, particularly T20, the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is the biggest party in sport. To think of T20 Cricket being played with no-one in the ground, with no atmosphere, no music, no entertainment, I’m not sure that is the same product,” the CWI CEO said.

According to Grave, CWI “can survive without ticket sales because it’s not our biggest revenue stream; it probably only represents about 5% of our revenue.”
Meanwhile, Grave noted the challenges CWI will face as it relates to inter-regional travel, pointing to the fact that going forward, plans will have to include the players’ health safety, as it relates to COVID-19.

He pointed out, “Talking about having a regional tournament with multiple teams and multiple players, the risk level just goes up and as well as the complexity. Certainly, one of the challenges we’re going to face is how do we get cricketers from Jamaica to Guyana into different countries to play regional tournaments and events.”

“The cost of chartering planes, which we can do, is really prohibited when you’re talking about youth tournaments, and even to some extent regional and professional tournaments. Probably only the TV money/the sponsorship money that allows international cricket to operate this usually increased cost-based,” Grave said.

Since the advent of COVID-19 in the Caribbean, only St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Lucia were able to stage matches, with all games being played without spectators.