USACA debt surpasses $4.3 million

The USA Cricket Association's federal return filings for the tax year 2014 show a 5% increase in the amount of organisational debt, amounting to a total of $4,319,414. The latest figure was recently made public by USACA ahead of the board's annual general meeting scheduled for April 9 at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida.

The year 2014 saw significant problems for USACA on and off the field, with chief executive Darren Beazley resigning in the first quarter of the year, a move that preceded the collapse of an agreement to host the USACA National Championship in Indianapolis, which included arrangements to have matches televised on ESPN digital platforms. Under increasing financial duress, USACA later had to cancel a preparation camp to Jamaica ahead of the team's participation in WCL Division Three in Malaysia, where they were relegated after a fifth-place finish.

The amount of funding USACA received from the ICC in 2014 went down 23%, from $366,762 in 2013 to $283,928. According to the tax return information, four USACA board members - including president Gladstone Dainty and former treasurer John Thickett - entered a claim on the tax return of having loaned USACA a combined total of more than $32,300 for "operational expenses" to help cover the difference, though the returns state there were no written agreements submitted for the loans by the board members.

Of the four board-member contributions, Thickett is listed as having loaned the most money with $12,000, though he is also listed on the filing as having contributed a separate $5,000 personal sponsorship to USACA. Dainty's personal loan to USACA was the smallest of the four board members, marked as $5,100.

Beazley's total compensation for four months of work was listed at $73,088. That figure is more than USACA's total amount generated from membership subscriptions, $61,480, and twice as much as USACA generated in sponsorship revenue $30,000 in 2014. USACA's total revenue for the year was $414,271 with total expenses of $650,718.

USACA's membership was suspended by the ICC last June after findings of a review group detailed "significant concerns about the governance, finance, reputation and cricketing activities of USACA". Among the findings later released was ICC chief executive David Richardson's characterisation of USACA's administration as being "unprofessional and untrustworthy".