By Neto Baptiste- A new Caribbean Premier League (CPL) cricket franchise will be based in Antigua and Barbuda for the 2024 edition of the International T20 tournament scheduled to run from August 17 to September 25.
This was revealed by Minister of Sports, Daryll Matthew, who made the announcement during his presentation on the 2024 budget on Tuesday, stating that the yet-to-be-named franchise will replace the Antigua Hawksbills based here between 2013 to 2015.
“Over the last year we’ve been having discussions with the CPL and we are now at a stage where I can announce that come 2024, a CPL franchise will be based right here in Antigua and Barbuda once again. At the time, the debate was that it was costing too much money, and I think at the time they [government] were paying $250,000.00 per year, and they decided, they could not recognize that by having CPL which was, at the time, a new enterprise taking place in West Indies cricket. They could not see what it could have become and you fast forward a few year’s and CPL is now the biggest thing in regional cricket,” he said.
The sports minister also revealed that based on a report he commissioned from the Ministry of Finance, the presence of a CPL franchise in Antigua and Barbuda could generate in excess of US$5.5 million in revenue on an annual basis.
“This data from St Kitts Nevis and St Lucia, we’re looking at 2015 data and so it’s likely to be higher now, but we can expect very easily and conservatively to generate approximately US$6M per year by simply having a CPL franchise based in Antigua and Barbuda. There will be a competition that is commissioned to name the team and to design a logo for the team, and that will be announced in the coming days,” Matthew said.
Matthew hinted that CPL matches will be hosted here in September next year.
The Hawksbills franchise was one of six teams that was established for the inaugural CPL season in 2013, and the only one located in the Leeward Islands. The Hawksbills placed fifth in 2013, and then last during the 2014 edition of the CPL, winning only three of out its sixteen games during that time. (Antigua Observer).
