The Government of Guyana and the Visionaries of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) have found common ground for the future of the twenty 20 spectacle. Speaking during a press conference on Saturday at the Marriott, the Chief Operations Officer (COO) Pete Russell indicated that they have sorted out their issues with the Government of Guyana after discussions. “My thing with the Government is that they have done the right thing. They have done their due diligence. They looked at the agreements that were in place and they wanted to make sure that those commitments were delivered by CPL. We were obviously debating or discussing long term future. For us it is very important that CPL is a major factor in Guyana which I am sure it will be for years ahead. It’s an ongoing discussion; I mean it’s a learning curve for everyone. I meant that we have had a change in government now in St Kitts; Antigua obviously changed their government, so we’ve been through the process before. It’s absolutely right that an incoming government wants to see what they are committed to, so that process is ongoing.”
Russell reminded that the Guyana franchise forms part of the CPL family and they are intent on keeping it intact, as is the case with Barbados. “I think that it is a sensationalist press headline. For CPL it is important that there is that public/ private partnership. We feel that this is an important tournament for the governments around the region, there’s a huge amount of economic value that comes into the region and we feel that they should be a partner, just in the same way that sponsors are. Barbados has been a challenge, because we know the economy down there is not as brought as it might be but we are hopeful that we reach an agreement.”
The CPL had indicated that the Government owed it US$500,000, a figure which spanned after two years of work. However, the Government of Guyana through Finance Minister Winston Jordan had declined to pay the funds until the description of works had been provided. This led to a meeting between the Government and the CPL committee, after which the Government had reaffirmed its commitment to the CPL.
CPL Ownership Revealed
Meanwhile, the C.O.O. rubbished rumors being pedalled in the media that the league is owned by GPC Boss Ranjisinghi Bobby Ramroop. Russell at a briefing yesterday (Saturday) indicated that the CPL is a shareholder project. “The league is probably owned by and in collaboration with the WICB. Digicel are the majority owner of the CPL. There is one or two minority stakeholders but they are individuals and then the WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) obviously has a stake as well. I’ve heard reports that (Ranjisinghi) Bobby Ramroop is the owner of the CPL, that is not the case. Bobby Ramroop is only the owner of the Amazon Warriors Franchise. So he owns the franchise down here and it’s like any franchise ownership. All his investment goes into the team. So there is no money that he gets from CPL. I just want to clear that up. In terms of ownership, it’s very clear.” Recently, rumors on social media had been pitting Ramroop as the owner of the CPL. Ramrooop’s Limacol brand had been the title sponsors for the first two years.
CPL in the Red
Meanwhile, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Barrie Corcoran dismissed rumors published that the entity is carting off bundles of money for itself. He noted that in fact, the tournament on average costs the entity just over 20 million US Dollars per year and is actually in debt in some parts. The CFO has indicated, however, that the reports of the multimillion dollar media rights deals do not necessarily mean profits. “We are in our third year and we have had a huge amount of investment gone into this product from day one. For example it costs about US$25M to run this tournament each year. So it’s important that we get investment from tourism and Government.”