THE annual Caribbean Premier League cricket competition reveals the spirit and potential of our people.
It also exposes a lack of commercial purpose of our cricket authorities.
In a region riddled with problems, the festival offers us an opportunity for abundant cheer and pride – and even irrational rivalry.
CPL, like other T20 contests, is franchise cricket, a commercially manufactured operation through which the organisers repatriate healthy profits.
The cricket carnival is good business.
The contest was launched in 2013, and last year the estimated total viewership was almost one billion people.
Five of the six CPL teams are foreign-owned, the sixth (Guyana Amazon Warriors) being held by a pharmaceutical operator from that country.
Titled and other sponsors pull in big bucks, with last year’s main backer, Indian-owned Hero, getting large returns in its motorbike sales.
The cricketers are well rewarded.
There are also gains for domestic economies, with an estimated 55,000 hotel rooms being filled during the tournament, and benefits for service providers.
This year the country-hopping was structured for greater commercial returns.
In the midst of all the boundary-hitting and classic catches, someone should ask: Shouldn’t the region own and operate this successful competition, and, in the process, develop the sport?
Such competitions have been held in the Caribbean since 2006, first by billionaire money launderer Allen Stanford.
Australia’s Big Bash competition – sponsored by KFC, no less – is owned by the cricketing authorities in that country.
The Bangladesh Premier League is a product of that country’s cricket bosses.
And so on.
Because of the vibrancy of the occasion, CPL cricket is among the most-watched in the world.
Well, even now the Caribbean region can’t have a reliable and efficient air carrier, with the rickety LIAT still meaning Leaving Islands Any Time.
Regional leaders earlier this year said a ferry system is a no-go.
CPL is a lesson for all students and practitioners of marketing: How to evoke pride and delirious behaviour, and engineer rivalry, resulting in towering sales of stadium tickets and merchandise.
No other Caribbean venture has induced such excitement and agitation, providing us with a reprieve from the crime and overall hardship of our daily lives.
It is unfortunate that some fans carried out provocative action while giddy with delight.
Overall, though, the electricity and conflict of CPL cricket give us a rare regional celebration.
