Rowley hails CPL but knocks CWI for deal

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley said the Caribbean Premier League Twenty20 tournament was an important sports event on the regional calendar, and he criticised Cricket West Indies (CWI) for lacking vision with the deal they signed with the organisers to establish it.

Rowley, the chairman of the Caricom Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket, set up to examine all matters related to the development of the sport in the Caribbean, said he did not think CWI got the best deal they could when they signed the initial agreement.

"I was never happy with the deal we got, because people probably felt that it could not become anything and gave away what we thought we never had," he said.

"You must have a vision of a better future to protect the future. We did not protect that future. Today, the CPL shows us that there is a potential for us to play like anybody else and participate in what is now the modern cricket business."

Still, Rowley said, his government was prepared to invest in staging CPL matches, especially the highly visible finals, in the two-island republic, and they will pursue that opportunity when it arises again because Guyana now has hosting rights until next year.

"When our administration came in, they approached us and made all kinds of demands of us, but we did not fall to what they were demanding," he said. "We negotiated, and we got three years, same that Guyana got, but before we got those terms, remember, for one year CPL went to St Kitts ... . That had to do with what was demanded of T&T.

"But we can't just take taxpayers' resources and throw it into what is a commercial, private-sector enterprise, so we did come to an agreement, and we set the tone in T&T for CPL to become a big event.

"Up to now, the best CPL final was at the Brian Lara Stadium, and if the owners want to get the benefit of the game in the franchise, they will want to play the games in T&T. There is no reason why the games can't be rotated around the region, as long as the various entities come to a good contracting position."

Rowley said the support the CPL received from the T&T government was more in kind rather than in cash, with the organisers benefiting from concessions on stadium fees, policing, and other government services, in addition to a small amount of money.