…Guyana to host opening matches
The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has continued its fantastic growth during the 2017 season with combined broadcast and digital viewership of almost 200 million. This represents an increase of 25 per cent on last season, further cementing the Hero CPL as one of the fastest growing cricket tournaments in the world.
According to CPL T20 “the largest audience share was in India where broadcast viewership increased by 19% to more than 97million. The next largest broadcast market was the Caribbean where there was a total viewership figure of 48million for the tournament that took place between 4 August and 9 September 2017.”
As well as success in India and the Caribbean, there was also a significant increase in the USA where there was more than a 100 per cent lift in viewership on the figures from the 2016 Hero CPL.
There was also a further increase in the digital viewership for the tournament, with 25 per cent of the total audience coming through various digital channels, which the League said is testament to the innovative nature of the Hero CPL’s online offerings.
Moreover, Damien O’Donohoe, the Chief Executive Officer of Hero CPL, posited that “with continued year-on-year growth, the Hero CPL goes into the 2018 season with momentum to secure an even larger audience for the next edition of the tournament. We are delighted to see the Biggest Party in Sport being watched by more people than ever before and expect that trend to continue next year.”
Guyana to host opening matches
Meanwhile, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the CPL, Pete Russell confirmed that the sixth edition of the “Biggest Party In Sport” will bowl off in Guyana and that the cricket crazy nation will also see an increased number of matches being played at Providence.
Russell who spoke to this media group on Wednesday during an official visit to Guyana said that in addition to the tournament’s curtain raiser being held in Guyana there is a possibility that the Guyana Amazon Warriors will have ‘two bites of the cherry’ at home.
The COO said that the local franchise will likely have three matches at Providence at the start of the tournament and will wrap up the competition with an additional two matches towards the back end of the five-week tournament.
According to Russell, Guyana will indeed be hosting the opening matches this year, making it a first for the country since the launch of the competition back in 2013.
Also, the COO added that it was critical for more young players to be introduced to the CPL as it is in their plans to use the league as a direct feeding system into the Windies team.
He pointed out that emphasis will be placed on roping in more Under-19 players as they have been making significant impacts over the seasons while some of them have even gone onto play for their countries at the senior level or West Indies.
Regarding teams’ player retention rule and salary cap, Russell said that no changes were made to the rules, adding that CPL wants to build a fan base for its die-hard followers with regards to minimizing players being shuffled around the respective franchises every season.
From a financial perspective, Guyana recorded some US$14 million or 2.8 Billion Guyana dollars in turnovers from last year’s CPL, prompting the COO to hail the tournament’s value as a marketable product which has been slowly reshaping the landscape of the sport Regionally.
This year’s CPL is set to bowl off early in August and will run up until September the same window period that was used in 2017.
