By Stephan Sookram

SHATTERED are the dreams of Guyanese cricket fans as the announcement came yesterday that Trinidad and Tobago outbid Guyana for the semi-final and final of the 2016 edition of the Caribbean Premier League.Chronicle Sport cornered the Minister of Education with responsibility for Sport, Dr Rupert Roopnarine, who confirmed that Trinidad and Tobago had outbid Guyana to host the Caribbean showpiece.
“The state of play is that it seems as though Trinidad has outbid us and they (officials) are having those discussions,” were the words of Dr Roopnarine, who was in a rush to enter the Parliament Chambers yesterday.
The notion comes just weeks after Guyana had confirmed interest in the tournament’s ultimate three matches with an aim to adding a bit more to the flair and celebration of the Golden Jubilee year.
It had been rumoured that the Twin Island Republic been putting up its hand to host the tournament even as Guyana had announced interest.
What is unclear at this time is the amount that Guyana’s closest Caribbean island posted in order to snivel the finals away, though the rumoured asking price a few weeks ago indicated that the CPL committee was looking for US$2M.
At this point, however, what is clear is that the semi-finals and final of the CPL 2016 will not be held here.
SMG Insight, the firm hired to audit last year’s CPL, 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$15.40M. This was broken down into the direct spend by CPL which was US$3.84M, accommodation and general expenditure was listed at US$5.63M, and value produced by the T&T Tourist Board branding at matches was put at US$5.93M.
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 5 703 nights were spent by non-local spectators at the hotels in T&T.