2019 Hero CPL makes millions for TT

THE Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has announced that the 2019 tournament’s economic impact for TT was over $30 million US ($205,145,740 TT).

A CPL press release said it was an increase from the 2018 tournament. “The 2019 event, which took place between September 4 and October 12, created a total economic impact of US$30,347,003 in the country. This represents an increase of 18 per cent on the 2018 figure, with the tournament staging five group games, the semi-finals and final as well as two historic women’s matches in the country.

“This figure has been calculated using organiser spend, visitor spend and media value and was collated for the tournament by world-renowned researchers, YouGov Sport.”

The release, explaining further how TT benefited from the event, said, “In addition to that economic impact figure the Hero CPL employed 489 staff in TT and filled 10,642 hotel rooms during the 2019 event. With the final taking place in the country there was a 15 per cent increase in arrivals into TT in October compared to the same month in 2018.”

Speaking about the report from YouGov Sport, the Hero CPL chief operating officer, Pete Russell said: “TT once again showed that this wonderful country is fantastic at staging world-class sporting and entertainment events. The Brian Lara Cricket Academy was, once again, a brilliant venue for our final and the support we had during a neutral game was amazing. We were very pleased to be able to bring women’s matches to Hero CPL for the first time and we were delighted with the support these matches received.”

Two exhibition T10 matches were played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy during the final week of the competition, featuring the region’s top players. The Hero CPL is trying to give women’s cricketers more exposure by giving them more opportunities.