Stanford in Jeopardy?

No, this is not about the collapse of financial insitutions in the USA. The multi million dollar extravaganza has not even got underway and it is already trouble. And guess what is this all about? Money, though people may say otherwise!

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The multi star cricket match that was slated to get underway may not even happen if the latest fiasco in the West Indies in anything to go by. The West Indies Cricket Board is struggling to put out the fire and it seems West Indies’ sponsorship is at stake.

The Stanford challenge was to feature top players from the West Indies against a best of England side in a winner takes all multi million Twenty20 event. But it has apparently run into trouble enough to derail the tournament altogether. The problem has arisen with West Indies’ team sponsors Digicel opposing the Stanford move to bring in industry rivals, Cable and Wireless.

While Stanford tourney officials claim that the event is not necessary under the official banner of the West Indies but rather as an All Star side, Digicel does not have a case and is only piggy back riding to cash in on the spotlight that the Stanford 20/20 is generating. They refuse to cave in to the tactics they are dubbing as “bullying” and are prepared to take the tournament forward.

The problem has apparently stemmed from Digicel and the organizers logging head over a T-shirt logo. While Digicel’s demands were met by the organizers, the one thing that miffed the organizers was that Digicel refused to pay additional amounts for putting their logo on the outfits. Digicel have trashed the claim and instead claiming to have agreed to pay everything already within the stated deal. With the Digicel wanting full branding on the clothing of the Stanford Superstars for a five year period and in no mood to compromise or settle for any less, this battle has even ended up on court, London’s High Court to be more precise.

The Stanford Super Series officials seem in no doubt over who is running the show. But Digicel are having a hard time accepting that there will be a near full strength West Indies side on the field not bearing their logo. Digicel are fighting the allowance of a rival telecommunication company to hog the sponsorship over the statement in its Sponsorship Agreement it says constitutes covering the players representing Allen Stanford, to the effect that any team that "represents, purports to represent or could reasonably be perceived as representing the West Indies" comes under the Digicel’s agreement with the WICB. WICB are washing their hands off the Stanford Series but Digicel are not buying.

But the battle appears far from over. The Stanford Super Series is in jeopardy, but the storm clouds may soon have a way of blowing over.

England in the Stanford Series, read:

England Rewards Team with Million Dollar Contest; Vaughan still in picture