BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE region’s leading cricket tournament, the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), continues to sit in the red according to Chief Operations Officer for the St. Kitts-Nevis Patriots Richard Berridge.
That statement comes as regional Governments continue to foot a number of bills and bids to host certain matches in the tournament.
Just recently, Minister of Sports Hon. Shawn Richards told SKNVibes Sports that the Federation is considering bidding to host the Finals of the Caribbean Premier League.
SKNVibes has learnt that the organizers have asked for a steep price of US$4M for the Semi-finals and Finals.
Addressing reporters yesterday (Jun. 20) at a press conference at Warner Park, Berridge explained that it is no secret that since its 2013 inception the Organizing Committee has not recorded a surplus.
“CPL has not made a profit yet and that is pretty much public. They were projected after five years to begin to break even and hopefully make a profit to pay off all the debts from the first four to five years.”
When compared with the Caribbean T20 tournament, the COO pointed out that the level of investment is far greater this time around.
Since the CPL began, questions were and are still being asked why are governments around the region pumping millions of US dollar into the private tournament with not much direct returns.
But Berridge, when questioned on the topic, sought to explain that countries such as St. Kitts and Nevis has received international exposure and the impact is felt economically.
“As you would recognize from day one of CPL, the economic impact on each country has been significant.”
With the matches being televised internationally, the Federation and other territories benefit from advertising in those markets that they would generally not be able to enter, Berridge explained.
He noted that the CPL has benefitted tremendously from its uniqueness, in that the top T20 players are from the region and other markets that are hard to tap into, such as the Indian players, have pushed the League.
“One of the things that have worked in our favour is that we have some of the best T20 players in the world that have gone around the world and played in other leagues,” Berridge said.
Meanwhile, the cricket enthusiast believes that the league’s Organizing Committee could announce the venue for the Finals, which is still at the bidding stage.
“I was made to understand last week that we are also interested. It has to go to Cabinet, it has to be discussed and they have to decide firstly if we are going to pay whatever the amount it is to host the Finals.
“Even if we do agree to pay to pay that amount, CPL still has to decide between Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis, so that is where it is at the moment,” he added.
The CPL bowls off in the Federation on June 30 at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium.
