by TREVOR YEARWOOD

IT CAME TOO LATE for a Christmas present, but Barbados has finally received its share of the Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 pie – US$12.4 million.

The money, representing gate receipts from matches staged under the auspices of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in April, was turned over on December 28.

Chairman of World Cup Barbados, Chris de Caires, made the disclosure yesterday during an interview in which he tagged expenditure on CWC at $159.4 million and the foreign exchange returns from it at about $200 million.

de Caires said an audit of the funds, mandated by ICC, had to be done before the monies could be handed over.

"It took us a little time for them to do the audit," de Caires explained. "The event finished in April and we got paid our funds on December 28.

"So it took a little time and some chasing down to make sure we got what was due to us."

Barbados received the largest slice of the US$31.4 million shared among regional cricketing countries.

Jamaica was next in line, with US$4.7 milllion. Antigua and Barbuda was allocated US$3.6 million, St Lucia, US$2.9 million, Guyana, US$2.6 million, Grenada, US$2.5 million, Trinidad and Tobago, US$1.7 million; and St Kitts and Nevis, US$900 000.

Barbados hosted seven matches, including the final of the series, and de Caires calculated that "we had about 150 000 people coming through our gates".

As many as two billion people across the globe are believed to have watched the series on TV.

This gave Barbados international exposure worth about $450 million, de Caires said, referring to the results of a study commissioned by the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA).

He dismissed any suggestion Barbados might have spent too much on CWC, saying that in any endeavour expenditure had to be matched against what revenue it would bring.

As to the hard cash Barbados would have gained from CWC, he spoke of "$25 million in revenue (gate receipts) and $200 million in foreign exchange", reflecting tourist spending on hotel rooms, entertainment and other matters.

"By and large, the financial result [of CWC] was quite satisfactory," he added.

He also rejected unofficial calculations of CWC expenditure running between $300 million and $400 million.

The project included developments at Kensington Oval, the 3Ws Oval at the University of the West Indies and the two practice grounds, according to de Caires.

These, along with rental of the temporary stand at the Oval "and all the World Cup dressing" of the facility, cost $159.4 million, he said.

He also voiced some disappointment that an effective marketing plan had not yet been put in place for the Oval, against the backdrop of differences between Government and the Barbados Cricket Association over ownership of the facility.