BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MINISTER OF SPORTS the Hon. Glen Phillip has refuted the rumour that a US$5M price tag is attached to St. Kitts hosting nine of this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) matches, but he has not made public what it will cost the government and people of the island.
In response to the rumour, Minister Phillip told SKNVibes Business that the “$5 or $6 million is not true”.
In an article, headlined “St. Kitts and Grenada cough up Millions to Host CPL Games”, published by a social media that goes by the name Times Caribbean, Grenada has confirmed that it has to pay US$500 000 US dollars for the rights to host the opening three games of the tournament and that St. Kitts has paid much more for hosting the Finals.
“St Kitts as well has reportedly shelled out an even larger sum than Grenada. The figure that St Kitts paid has not been officially released, but insiders say it is "a lot more than Grenada" and is believed to be over US$2.5 million for the right to host the final games for the first time. Insiders have suggested that they out-bid Oil Rich Trinidad and Tobago who offered up US$1.5MILLION to host the semi-finals and finals,” the article reads.
When asked about the amount St. Kitts has paid, Minister Phillip explained that due to a principle contractual agreement with the Caribbean Premier League, the Sports Department and host territories are bound to secrecy.
“I can’t give you the amount because we have signed an agreement of confidentiality with CPL for 12 months, or something like that, and it’s going to come out eventually.”
He added that payment of the hosting fees for the Finals would be done in monthly installments.
SKNVibes understands that the US$2.5M does not include local operational costs and other expenditures relating to the hosting of the matches, which could see the government forking out more than the suggested US$2.5M.
Several other host territories that do not have franchises were not willing to fork out hosting fees for matches, since there is no guarantee that their governments would actually reclaim the funds they would have paid.
Grenada is one of those territories which SKNVibes learnt complained about the US$ 500 000 instituted for their three-match hosting.
Speaking to one of the benefits for the hosting of CPL matches, Minister Phillip said, “The economic spinoff…for example Trinidad, for the Final and Semi-Finals last year, did invest in the Trinidad economy."
The CPL was said to have suffered a loss in its inaugural season last year, but it had brought millions of dollars to the Caribbean region.
A report published in February 2014 stated that the estimated total economic impact of CPL 2013 for each host country showed that Antigua made US$7.35M, Barbados US $9.1M, Guyana US$4M, Jamaica US$10.65M, Trinidad US$12.85M, and St. Lucia US$7.3M. An additional US$54M was raised by spending across all six countries.
SKNVibes Business understands too that the much-anticipated Closing Ceremony would be funded by the CPL body and is expected to be in the tune of thousands of US dollars, since many regional artistes and cultural presentations would be on display.
However, when asked what the Sports Department has in place to not allow for a reoccurrence of the shortfalls experienced in the hosting of the 2007 World Cup, especially with the dwindling spectators, the Minister explained that unlike then, this is more of a locally-based tournament which has the uniqueness of the Caribbean, which would attract many spectators from within the region.
“This is more of a Caribbean flavour which brings out Caribbean people and, then with the CPL, you would have persons who play for international teams and also play for the CPL franchise.
“Also you would see a large contingent from neighboring islands like Antigua, Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana, especially for the Semi-finals and Finals.”
The Minister added that this would allow the island to see a large influx of overseas tourists, since they have already started receiving request from markets in Asian, North America and Europe.
He declared that it is expected that some 4 000 stay-over spectators would be on the island during the week of these matches.
This year, organisers of the ‘Biggest Party in Sport’, CPL, have allocated more matches to territories which do not have any franchise and St. Kitts is expected to host six preliminary matches, two Semi-Finals and the Grand Final.
