2023 CPL Thread.

[Flex]

Govt signs agreement with CPL for 2023
T&T Newsday Reports.

ACTING Ministry of Sport and Community Development Randall Mitchell has signed an agreement on behalf of the Government with the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

TT will once again host matches in two of the most eagerly anticipated T20 leagues – the men’s CPL 2023 and the women’s CPL (WCPL) 2023. The Men’s CPL will take place from August 16 to September 24 and the Women’s CPL from September 4 to 11, 2023.

On Tuesday, Mitchell signed an agreement with the CPL for TT to host ten of the 2023 matches.

The games in TT will comprise six regular season CPL games including four Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) men’s home games. Four WCPL games including three TKR women’s home games will also be held in TT.

The agreement gives the Government sponsorship rights as a regional tourism partner for the CPL and WCPL as well as significant advertising and promotional rights.

TT will benefit from choice sponsorship recognition across CPL’s social media/digital platforms, and access to premium tourism marketing through CPL’s website towards leveraging and building brand awareness of TT’s diversity, including but not limited to its cultural abundance and regional predominance as a sports tourism destination.

In a media release on Wednesday, Mitchell said, “I want to commend the Minister of Sports Shamfa Cudjoe for her commitment to the development of sports and sports tourism during the negotiation stage. This agreement better positions us to infiltrate the sports tourism market and further secures us as a regional leader for sports tourism. This partnership with CPL will undoubtedly bolster TT as one of the regional champions doling out unwavering support for and promotion of our beloved game, cricket.”

In 2022, TT hosted the CPL in one of the most successful sporting events to be seen in recent years. “This year, TT has become the mecca of regional sporting events and sport tourism as the Commonwealth Youth Games will be hosted at venues on both islands in the month before CPL 2023 bowls off.”

[Flex]

RBL new title sponsor of CPL
By Mark Pouchet (T&T Express)

Republic Bank Limited (RBL), the largest indigenous bank in the English-speaking Caribbean, is the new title sponsor of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) for the next three years.

Already the official bank of the CPL since 2015, RBL takes over the responsibility from Indian motor company Hero which served in that role since the tournament’s inception in 2013.

At yesterday’s media conference, CPL Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pete Russell announced the tournament would run from August 16-September 24 this year. Russell declined to state the value of the sponsorship deal which he said remained private.

Russell said the relationship with Republic, nurtured over an eight-year partnership, had helped the CPL to grow internationally. “Republic Bank had been the official banking partner of the CPL since 2015 and helped the CPL to grow through the early years to be come the second most watched T20 tournament in the world,” said Russell, adding the deal was both memorable and historic.

Russell said both companies have similar goals; including to help to develop local talent, to compete and perform on global stages, to continue bringing economic value to the region with investments in the markets in which they operate, and for both to help facilitate the joy and fun the many fans of cricket in the region are invested in.

Russell said CPL also prided itself on being a Caribbean business with a global outlook while another key mandate for the League is to develop players as the league aspires to become a finishing school for the best players around the region.

Regional players also used the CPL as a platform to display their skills not only to regional selectors but to other leagues in the world, Russell pointed out.

The broadcast and digital viewership of the 2022 edition, won by the Jamaica Tallawahs, was 721.8 million, to make it the second-most watched league in world cricket, trailing only the IPL (Indian Premier League).

Russell also promised a June 5 CPL draft with a complete schedule of CPL fixtures to be announced within the next ten days. The bank will also partner for the second edition of the Women’s CPL to be staged in Barbados and T&T.

Republic Bank managing director Nigel Baptiste said the company was excited to be expanding its partnership with the CPL.

“Sports and youth development are two of the core values in our organisation...It was an opportunity we felt the group could not bypass, said Baptiste, adding, “Our love for the sport in the Caribbean has united us over the decades. It is our intention to build on that unity and ensure cricket becomes a vehicle for the further unification of the Caribbean.”