Although CPL expansion is inevitable, the proper conditions must be met.
One can safely predict that the eighth edition of the competition will see yet another boost in worldwide viewership and expansion of the brand with just over a week left before CPL 2020 draws to a close.
Last year, 312 million people watched the event in total across broadcast and digital platforms, up 56% over 2018. Over the course of the event’s seven-year run, viewers have grown with each season.
The fact that this year’s event took place amid a global cricket void allowed organisers to strategically schedule games to appeal to the UK/India TV market. As a result, interest will be at an all-time high.
Given such, it might be appropriate for the CPL to broaden the competition in future editions.
The introduction of an American or Canadian club was mentioned in an interview with CPL COO Peter Russell conducted by the Caribbean Cricket Podcast in April of this year.
There are many opportunities for the CPL to grow in the future, as many people in the Caribbean are also calling for the opening of a new Grenada franchise or the return of an Antigua franchise.
With the chance to compete against US, Canadian, and Caribbean teams, CPL would undoubtedly become the No. 2 T20 franchise league, providing a special experience that only IPL could fairly expect to compete with.
The CPL has, of course, already entered the US market, first in 2016 and most recently with the Jamaica Tallawahs in 2018. With Jamaica playing the majority of their “home” games in Florida in front of scant fans, Andre Russell, the 2018 Tallawahs captain, was extremely critical of the decision.
Given the decision to cancel games in 2019, which Peter Russell justified by claiming weak ticket sales, the Florida experiment may indeed be considered a failure overall.
It had been widely rumoured up until this point that a CPL franchise could be purchased and moved to the United States, but that rumour has since died down, and the development of a US/Canadian-specific franchise now appears to be a more viable business idea.
However, the recently established USA Major and Minor League Cricket would pose a threat to such an endeavour. Major League Cricket’s owners, Willow and Times of India, look totally committed to launching the US tournament, so it makes sense that they would view the CPL as direct competition rather than possible business partners.
The current plan for MiLC is for it to run outside of MLC and into any period that CPL would operate inside, even if MLC and CLP were held at separate times of the year.
In that situation, it stands to reason that any CPL franchise with US-based operations would require a working arrangement with MLC. If successful, the infrastructure that MLC develops for cricket would address.
A new CPL franchise being able to lease existing stadiums would help keep the initial cost down, reduce logistical difficulties, and also add the benefit of mobility/agility for the franchise’s future, as Nate Hays, contributor for Emerging Cricket, argues. If the team played in several places, it might explore different markets before settling on one.
Looking over to Canada, the GT20 is still a young competition; the 2019 event was marred by player demonstrations over unpaid salaries. GT20 has discovered the hard way how challenging it is to launch a credible T20 league.
