LET ME CONFESS up front: I am not a follower of West Indies cricket anymore, but I am excited by the Caribbean Premiere League (CPL) tournament.
A T20 match is the only form of the game with the capacity to disrupt my schedule for the duration of the event – anything else and my interest does not extend beyond pausing to learn of the outcome.
You can deduce from that “confession” that the CPL organisers have my support, as far as the game is concerned. When it comes to their business model, however, they have a long way to go to win me over.
Last Friday we published a news story by News Editor Geralyn Edward quoting CPL chief operating officer Pete Russell and chief executive officer Damien O’Donohoe as saying they may pull out of Barbados because they are losing $2 million per year.
At first I was more than a little sceptical because every Barbados match was sold out. I wondered how they could lose money with such huge gate receipts, plus the returns from broadcast rights, these days the most lucrative thing in international cricket.
Why?
Then I read the assertion that the local business community had shown no interest in getting on board as CPL sponsors. I wondered why. With such a huge captive audience, why is it that not one local business saw it as a viable opportunity to make money by associating with the tournament and CPL brand? With 12 000 people at Kensington Oval, not a beer producer, rum producer, hotdog producer, burger producer, T-shirt manufacturer, soft drink maker – nobody – saw any value in starting a CPL partnership?
It reminded me of the Crop Over Festival from which scores of business people make tons of money every year, but still the National Cultural Foundation, the calypso tents and other players have literally to beg for sponsorship. It really is a sad reflection of a business community that appears always so willing to take, but anything the country/consumer wants from them, you literally have to beat it out of them.
But here’s where I have a major problem with CPL – their threat to pull out of Barbados if the Government does not inject at least $2 million. By their logic the owners of CPL have invested more than $20 million of their money in the venture and because it benefits Barbados, the Government must prop it up.
What makes CPL different from any other business venture? How does it differ from the Jordans who opened a chain of supermarkets, the Williamses who started a construction company, or the Marshalls who opened a village shop? If they invest their money and the venture fails, what would be their logic for calling on the taxpayers to bail them out? They contribute to employment generation (even substantially), national productivity, and export earnings, but at the end of the day it is a business risk they took.
With all due respect to Russell and O’Donohoe, as much as I like the CPL tournament, I would frown on any move by Government to funnel my tax dollars to bail out your venture. If your business model took into account a certain level of business sponsorship and it has not materialised, that’s unfortunate, but every day regular business people make decisions, some of which are successful and some of which are not. By the way, had CPL been making huge profits would you be sharing the loot with the Government? Go back to the drawing board.
It is your right to decide if dropping Barbados from your model will make it more viable and no one should attack you for that – after all, you are running a business. But in my humble opinion you have no entitlement to our tax dollars because for four evenings in one year you organise cricket in Barbados.
Then again, just in case I am wrong, don’t give me some dubious statement like “the island received about US$5 million in marketing airtime and promotion since 2013” as a result of CPL. Tell me how many tourists came in for the matches, put a dollar value on the economic stimulation created by CPL, tell me how the showing of the T20 cricket from Kensington Oval in international markets has stimulated tourism or awareness of Barbados as a tourist destination, or an offshore business centre.
Let me put it another way: How many Barbadians and/or West Indians who watched Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket beamed from across the globe have been moved to travel to India or Pakistan for a holiday or to do business?
I have watched more than a few IPL matches on the sports networks, and, quite frankly, I can’t remember a single product I saw advertised. But that might be a reflection of my poor memory.
Come again, Russell and O’Donohoe. Bring another argument because your case so far is very weak. But I remain a firm supporter of CPL and T20 cricket. You are on to a good thing, but take your eyes off the Barbados Treasury.
