CPL 2017 to bowl off in August

Speaking to the media at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair yesterday, Russell stated, “we are going to start the CPL at the beginning of August next year and run through until the first week of September.” He explained, “the cricket calender is such a conjested calender so it was trying to fit it in at a time that worked for everyone.

Obviously India comes here (to the Caribbean) in terms of ODIs in July (2017), we wanted to avoid that so August was the best month to do it.” The 2016 edition of the CPL was held from June 29 to August 7.

Russell said it is a possibility that matches may be held at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, which is scheduled to open by early 2017.

“It may be too premature to have those conversations until we know more about the status of the (Brian Lara) Stadium. I went down there (on Wednesday) and I had a quick look at it and it looks like there is a lot of action being taken to get it finished in good time.” He added, “I was surprised how state of the art it looked. I think that is a possiblity (for matches to be held in Tarouba) if that comes on stream to play some games hopefully there.”

Russell explained that the economic impact of the CPL was US$90 million during the 2016 season, a huge increase from the 2015 season which made US$76.2 million. “The economic impact has been very strong. Over $90 million was delivered in terms of the Caribbean countries. People come into the islands and spend, what we spend, all of that adds up so it is a significant investment that we make and that is part of the good news story because it was a huge increase from the previous year.”

The CPL Chief Operations Officer said the television audience is an indication of the popularity of the tournament. “Our TV audience now is 134 million, 82 million of that comes from India and it shows that this a product that everyone wants to see on and off the pitch. The Carnival atmosphere the fans bring to it is something that really gets a strong following.” The CPL will have top international players again next year according to Russell. “It will be exactly the same quality. For us that is very important, you got to make sure you get the best players on the pitch.”