Caribbean Premier League

History

Twenty20 domestic cricket first appeared in an organized manner in the West Indies in 2006 with the privately organized Stanford 20/20. The second and last tournament of the Stanford competition was officially made part of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) calendar in 2008, after which the tournament ended when its sponsor Allen Stanford was charged with fraud and arrested in June 2009. The next organized Twenty20 competition came about with the creation of the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament by the WICB. The Caribbean Twenty20 was created to fill the gap left by the end of the Stanford 20/20 and to coincide with the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 tournament, which started less than two months after. The top domestic team from the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament qualified for the Champions League as the sole representative of the West Indies.

The WICB first announced the plans for the Caribbean Premier League in September 2012 when it was revealed that the board was "in the advanced stages of discussions to have a commercial Twenty20 league in the region" with an unnamed investor and hoped to conclude a deal before 30 September. On 14 September, the board met to make decisions on the structure and organization of the Caribbean Twenty20 CPL Schedule in January; to discuss the governance structure of the board and also discuss the planned commercial Twenty20 league and to finalize its structure. The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) were also to be brought in to discuss issues pertaining to players in relation to the planned T20 league. On December 13, 2012, the WICB announced that they had finalized an agreement with Ajmal Khan founder of Verus International,a Barbados-based merchant bank, for the funding of the new franchise-based Twenty20 league to be launched in 2013. It was then expected that the new Caribbean Premier League was likely to comprise six Caribbean city-based franchises as opposed to the current territorial set-up with the majority of the players are to come from the West Indies. As part of the agreement, the WICB will receive additional funding from Verus International for additional retainer contracts for players in addition to the 20 annual retainer contracts the board currently funds.

Dates for the tournament were confirmed for the 2013 Caribbean Premier League as 29 July to 26 August. The 2014 and 2015 tournaments took place between 5 July to 10 August and 21 June to 26 July respectively and the 2016 tournament took place between June 29 to August 7.

Format

Six teams competed in the first CPLT20 tournament in 2013 – Jamaica Tallawahs, Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel, Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, St. Lucia Zouks, Antigua Hawksbills. The CPL T20 tournament is played between six teams and is divided into a group stage and a knockout stage. In the group stage, the teams each play ten matches overall, three of which are at home. This unusual format occurs because all six teams are co-located at a single playing site for five sequential matches of the tourney, then the whole tournament moves to a new location for five more games (and so on). Six stadiums are used (see Venues below), each a home field for one of the teams. The playoff stage includes two semi-finals and a final to determine the winner of the tournament. All three of the elimination playoff games will be played at Queen's Park Oval.

Salary cap

As of 30 December 2015, the Caribbean Premier League's salary cap is $780,000. This was an increase implemented for the 2016 draft, from the previous cap of $600,000.

Teams

The tournament includes six franchises with 15 contracted players each, including a maximum of five international players and four players under the age of 23. Each team has one local and one international franchise player. The draft occurred on 5 June 2013.

Sponsorships

Caribbean mobile network Digicel was named as the first global sponsor for the inaugural 2013 tournament and beyond in a multi-year deal. As previous sponsors of the West Indies cricket team and the Digicel Caribbean Cup the brand has considerable experience with sponsoring cricket and other sporting events throughout the Caribbean. “The CPL is a perfect fit for Digicel. We’re huge fans of West Indies cricket and this is a great opportunity for us to invest not only in what will be an amazing event, but also in the young cricketers who will benefit from around the region,” stated Digicel Group Marketing Operations Director Kieran Foley.

Following the acquisition of the Guyana Amazon Warriors franchise owner, Dr. Ranjisingh ’Bobby’ Ramroop’s New GPC Inc, specifically its Limacol brand, has assumed the title sponsorship of the CPL.

In June 2013 Courts plc announced their sponsorship of the Caribbean Premier League “CPL’s partnership with Courts is a very strategic and beneficial one to both parties, and we are thrilled about the possibilities that exist for us from a marketing perspective,” said CPL CEO Damien O’ Donohoe. “Combining our advertising and marketing programmes with that of Courts will heighten the awareness of CPL across the region, and increase fan support, which will put people in the stands at matches and customers in the aisles of Courts.”

El Dorado Rum has been named as an official partner of the inaugural tournament, and sponsors the tournament’s Catch of the Match award, which goes to one player in each game who makes a thrilling catch.