Newcastle law firm advise on Carribean Twenty 20 cricket tournament

North East law firm Muckle LLP has been advising by the Caribbean Premier League Ltd (CPL), a St Lucia registered company, to provide legal advice on all aspects of the Caribbean Twenty 20 Cricket Tournament.

Over the past eight months, Muckle’s sports team in Newcastle upon Tyne has been advising the CPL and has been instrumental in making the 2014 Caribbean Twenty 20 Cricket Tournament happen.

Legal advice and negotiations were led by Partner, John Devine and Associate Solicitor, Stephen Green, who were part of an eight strong Muckle team.

The work required Muckle to advise on all legal aspects of the tournament and the team also helped to secure Kevin Pietersen’s involvement. Pietersen heads the list of international cricket stars who entered the draft, which also includes Chris Gayle, Saeed Ajmal, Corey Anderson, Kevin O’Brien and Matthew Maynard.

Tony McPhillips, who manages the CPL relationship, said: “We are delighted to be working with the Caribbean Premier League on one of cricket’s highest profile, global tournaments.

“The influence of the tournament extends beyond the West Indies to North America, India and Australia.“

Muckle LLP advised CPL on participation agreements with each of the six individual franchises across the West Indies, TV production tenders and TV production agreements to ensure maximum revenue and worldwide coverage of the event.

The Newcastle firm also advised on sponsorship agreements with international organisations including airlines, health care companies, soft drinks manufacturers as well as West Indian Governments and International Tourist Boards. They also provided the CPL with advice on resolving disputes on international contracts including arbitration procedures.

Muckle’s sports team handled numerous players’ and coaches’ contracts providing advice on player drafts, contracts, option agreements, as well as dealing with sponsorship and image rights issues. Muckle also arranged agreements for coaches, assistant coaches, masseurs, physiotherapists, statisticians and trainers as well as providing guidance on anti–bribery and corruption policies.

Tony McPhillips, continued: “The complexity and scale of this project meant that we were often working across different time zones for long periods of time, including weekends, to co-ordinate with those in the West Indies and North America.

“Through our expertise in this sector, we enabled CPL to adopt a commercial approach to its negotiations and have provided effective advice and support when the CPL needed it.”

The CPL T20, which thrilled sell-out crowds across the Caribbean in 2013, is one of the most high-profile and lucrative cricket tournaments in the world, attracting more than 225 of the world’s top players to its annual draft each year.

CPL says it chose Muckle LLP’s sports team because of their reputation, experience and understanding of the requirements of sporting bodies – an understanding gained not just at the highest professional levels but from grassroots level too.

Pete Russell, chief operating officer of the CPL, says of the team at Muckle LLP: “Thank you so much for all you have done for the CPL. The service we have received is outstanding and my team are just so impressed.”

The tournament began in Grenada on July 11 and will be televised around the world to more than 200 million people via broadcasters who have signed up, including BT Sport (UK), ESPN 3 (North America) Fox Sports (Australia) and Sony Six (India).