Guyana gets CPL finals as T&T loses out
Vinode Mamchan
Published: Guardian
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
After much speculation as to where the finals of the 2016 Hero Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament will take place, news coming to hand is that it will go South to Guyana this time around.
Guardian Media was reliably informed that the government of Guyana has outdone the governments of T&T and Barbados in a three-way bid to host the finals on August 7. Guyana will also host both semi-finals which will take place at Providence Stadium.
According to a source close to the Guyana government, the deal has been struck and it will be made public in a few days time. The source did not give particulars about the agreement between the parties, but the CPL organizers were asking for US$4.5M (G$932.4million) for the award of the final-four.
It will be the first time that the finals will be hosted in Guyana, as the three previous finals took place in T&T (2) and St. Kitts. Last year, the PP government invested US$3.5 million (TT$24 million) and there was massive interest and sold out crowds for the final which was won by the local Red Steel team (now renamed the Trinbago Knight Riders), which beat Barbados Tridents in the final at the Queen’s Park Oval.
It is understood that T&T proposed a counter offer of US$1.5 million (TT$9.8 million) and was willing to go up to US$2 million, but this was not successful. The Guyana government would have been swayed by the report provided by SMG Insight on the economic impact of last year’s final.
SMG Insight reasoned that by hosting last year’s event, T&T got significant economic and social benefits, which included the direct spend by CPL from hotel to local vendors, travel, media and advertising. The total direct impact of the 2015 tournament for the T&T economy was stated as US$15.40 million. This was broken down into the direct spend by CPL which was US$3.84 million, accommodation and general expenditure was listed at US$5.63 million, and value produced by the T&T Tourist Board branding at matches was put at US$5.93 million.
The proposal also outlined to all governments that a total of 93,929 fans attended the matches in T&T and as a result 551 jobs were created. In addition, a television audience of 27.3 million persons viewed the games, and a total of 5,703 nights were spent by non-local spectators at the hotels in T&T.
www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2016-04-19/guya...-finals-tt-loses-out
