Cricket West Indies (CWI) has expressed gratitude to Sandals Resorts International for their contribution to West Indies cricket as a principal partner during the last four years. Their sponsorship arrangement has now ended.
Sandals became CWI’s principal partner, enjoying branding rights across all West Indies Men’s, Women’s and age-group teams in 2017. The partnership was extended by a further year during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CWI Partnership with Sandals was part of the legacy of the late Gordon “Butch” Stewart, Chairman of Sandals. Stewart was a life-long supporter of West Indies cricket and ensured that the Sandals brand stood proudly on the shirts of all West Indian cricketers, continuously over the past four years.
CWI paid tribute earlier this year to Stewart, whose passing was closely followed by the loss of his senior management colleague David Roper, himself also a Sandals-based West Indies cricket stalwart. It was Roper who coordinated the varying commercial relationships with West Indies cricket for more than two decades at home and abroad.
Sandals’ financial contribution through the most recent four-year period of commercial sponsorship, provided much-needed capital to CWI for investing in players and tournaments across all formats of the game.
Sandals had also previously entered into shorter-term sponsorships with CWI on a number of specific tours to the United Kingdom (UK), one of the major tourism markets where Sandals received a significant return on investment from their partnership with West Indies cricket. Sandals was the first-ever West Indies sponsor to have their logo across the chest of the Test teams.
