Reports : Vijay Mallya owned Barbados Tridents’ players yet to get full payment for CPL 2017
Some players of the Vijay Mallya owned Barbados Tridents are still awaiting full payment of their season fees of the 2017 CPL. Earlier, it was expected that all outstanding amounts would be paid by December 2017, but a number of players are still waiting to be fully paid by the franchise.
Lately, the Caribbean Premier League organizers are trying to position the T20 league as one of the best leagues in the world and the broadcasting figures that were released last week also showed that a 25% upturn in broadcast and digital viewership around the world. The league has also attracted cricketers from all around the world including New Zealand's Kane Williamson and England's Eoin Morgan who were part of the Barbados-based franchise last year.
Cricbuzz has reported that a number of the Trident players and management have suffered delays in receiving outstanding amounts ranging from US$10,000 to more than US$100,000 since the tournament ended last September. It was expected that all outstanding amounts would be settled before the end of last year but a number of players are still waiting to be fully paid by the franchise despite them threatening to pursue legal action.
"The Caribbean Premier League are aware of the issue with regard to the outstanding final payments that are owed to certain members of the Barbados Tridents squad and we are working with the franchise to rectify this as soon as possible," a CPL spokesperson told Cricbuzz.Â
"For the league, this is an unacceptable situation and we are currently going through the due process in order for all of the players to be paid in the shortest timeframe possible."
The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA), after getting to know about the things, stated that one way of solving the problem is for the ICC to revoke the approval for events where player contracts have not been honoured.
Tony Irish, Executive Chairman of FICA, said, "There are outstanding payments for the 2017 event for one of the franchises. That's disappointing because historically the CPL has had a good record of player payments and honouring their obligations with player contracts.
"The non-payment of players is an occurrence that happens far too often in cricket, we believe," added Irish. "We advocate some proactive solutions. Every cricket event needs to be approved cricket whether that's run under the auspices of one of the full member boards or whether approval is done by the ICC. Part of being approved cricket should have safeguards for player contracts.
"There should be mechanisms within a league so that if a team doesn't pay, there's some form of guarantee from the league or some money held by the league to cover any breaches of contract by a team. There should also be some form of mechanism for breaches of contract - whether by teams or players - so they can actually be arbitrated in a cricket-specific way like they have in football.
"We are of the opinion that these T20 leagues around the world are very much part of the global structure. They shouldn't be viewed as just events which happen in particular countries. Therefore, there should be minimum standards and they should be linked to the approval of those events."
The Tridents, which have been an integral part of the CPL since its inception, were taken over by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya before last season's CPL with the assistance of the Bajan government. The new owner boasted at the time of paying just $100 for the franchise but later admitted that franchise’s running costs would be around $2million including wages and an annual franchise fee. However, due to the lack of revenue sharing model, CPL franchises have to make their money and cover their costs through ticket and merchandise sales and sponsorship.