This year’s Cup Match Classic is unlikely to be broadcast live on cable television or free streaming platforms, according to St George’s Cricket Club president Neil Paynter.
Paynter revealed as much during a panel discussion involving the current St George’s chief and former Somerset Cricket Club and St George’s presidents Reginald Pearman and Cleveland Foggo following Wednesday night’s public airing of the documentary Cup Match: Legacy of Honour, which took place at Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI).
A reliable source who attended the event told TNN that the panellists collectively agreed that the host clubs were entitled to reap greater financial benefit from the commercialised venture that Cup Match has evolved into, beyond its roots as a social gathering designed to celebrate the emancipation of slaves.
“Neil Paynter stated that the clubs need to be doing more and benefiting more from Cup Match and the events surrounding Cup Match,” said the source. “In the same vein he ended, saying that there would be no Cup Match on TV.
“He went on to say that if people want to watch Cup Match they will have to pay for it and mentioned something about $25, which I assume to be the entrance fee at the gate.”
It was noted that Paynter did not go into further detail as to why live ‘free’ video of the match was unlikely, nor did he indicate there to be any designs on providing the match via pay-per-view, but it would appear that no local broadcast entity has presented a viable bid package for the events television rights.
The threat of there being no live video airing of the event is not new, with Paynter having made such threats previously, only to have donors come to the ‘rescue’ providing funding to meet broadcast expenses.
“He did not expand on the circumstances surrounding the inability or unavailability of Cup Match via television, but he did insist that there will be no free-to-air for sure,” added the source. “There would be no Channel 82, who had done this before, but he did mention that if the public wanted to see Cup Match, they would have to pay for it.
“He did mention that the club, the last time they did television, had to pay somebody $90,000, whether that was Channel 82 or whomever but the club had to come up with an enormous amount of money in order to have Cup Match shown on television.”
Calls to Paynter and text messages left today regarding the issue have gone unreturned.
TNN uderstands that HSBC and government have previously supplied supplementary funding for the event’s infrastructure and other items that might include radio and television, however it is not known if HSBC remains on board as a lead or primary sponsor.
“So it begs the question as to what has happened with HSBC as a main sponsor, which help to subsidize the stands, radio coverage and television coverage,” said the source. “Painter gave no clarification as to how those items were to be covered and whether HSBC remained on board.
Additionally the panel also spoke about most of Bermuda’s grassroots sporting clubs not having the kind of attendance, support, membership and patronage that they used to have, with all of the clubs suffering from shrinking or declining membership and attendance at events.
Foggo pointed out how people just don’t gather at the clubs anymore, including the players, who he said tend to leave at match end, rather than socialise and patronise club facilities.
As for Wednesday night’s event at BUEI it was said to be sparsely attended by the public, with most of the audience made up of government officials, which commissioned the documentary.
“In the first 10 rows that anything else, including the Education Minister, the Minister of Youth, Sport and Culturakl Affairs, the director of Community and Cultural Affairs,” said the source. “All these people were there because the documentary was supported by the government, but it wasn’t well attended and the documentary itself didn’t include many of the real legends of Cup Match.
“There were no features on the likes of Lloyd James, Sheridan Raynor, Eldon Raynor, none of what we know to be the legends of Cup Match.”
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