CWI and CPL contract… will it determine 2028 Olympics T20 Qualification Process?

The topic for today’s Things That Matter column is the Cricket West Indies (CWI) T20 contract with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). A contract that allegedly gives CPL a near total stranglehold on the lucrative T20 cricket format here in the Caribbean.

Given that T20 cricket is on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games program. And I might add most likely to be on the Brisbane 2032 Olympic program. It begs the question: who will have control of the T20 Olympic qualification process in the Caribbean?

By now everyone involved in cricket will know representation is by country via the National Olympic Committees (NNOCs). It is a matter of public record that CANOC (the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees) fully supported the ICC’s efforts to gain the inclusion of T-20 cricket on the Olympic program.

I, for one, will acknowledge that during my tenure as CANOC and TTOC president, I fully supported the notion of T20 on the Olympic program. As a side note, rumour had it that the reason it took longer than anticipated for Olympic T20 cricket to be a reality was due to an initial reluctance of the all-powerful BCCI to support the effort. How T20 eventually got the IOC blessing is a story that must one day be told. But back to the point that during my tenure as president I didn’t raise concerns publicly about the multi-year CPL/CWI contract. I did have many conversations with individuals who had more information than I about the purported terms of the contract. One aspect I never understood was how CWI could agree to a decades-long contract. It didn’t require a crystal ball or Norstradamus to perceive—even at that time—that T20 would be a money play that would disrupt and transform the staid, traditional colonial moorings of cricket.

There is the need for clarity from CWI about the process that will be used for T20 Olympic qualification in the Caribbean. CWI and its member country cricket boards must have control of the Olympic qualification pathway for the Caribbean. T20 cricket and the qualification process must accord with IOC rules and guidelines.

The opportunity provided for the Caribbean to medal in T20 cricket at the Los Angeles Olympics must not be sabotaged. This is not to suggest that CPL, from a sports entertainment business perspective, has not created a product that has attracted large crowds and a younger one at that. For all the positives that CPL—as some will argue—has given to the region. The real question is, at what cost?

CWI needs to come clean. While it can be argued that CPL and CWI are not in the Olympic business. It’s plain as daylight for the world to see that the Olympics matter to the people of the Caribbean. Just as FIJI did when rugby 7s were added to the Olympic program. FIJI won the rugby 7s Olympic gold medal on two occasions.

It’s not unrealistic for a CANOC member country to win T20 cricket gold in Los Angeles and Brisbane. But the plain truth of the matter is that the planning to achieve that goal/gold must start now. Not tomorrow, next month, or next year. But right now.

It is in that context that CWI must come clean about who owns T20 cricket in the Caribbean and what the Olympic qualification process is to determine which Caribbean nation will be given the opportunity to be selected by their NOC for Los Angeles 2028.

Editor’s note: The views expressed in the preceding article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of any organisation in which he is a stakeholder.

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