CPL thrilled to work with 2 IPL team owners to make tournament 'second-best' in cricket

After the IPL broke into the T20 market and virtually established it in 2008, most other cricket boards have tried their hand at organising their own cricketing spectacles. Cricket Australia came out with the Big Bash League, the Pakistan Cricket Board came out with the Pakistan Super League and Cricket West Indies came out with the Caribbean Premier League, among many other leagues around the globe. The Caribbean Premier League began in 2013 and established itself as a force to be dealt with. Not only does the league sport some of the biggest T20 icons of the globe, it also adds the relaxed and rich carribean flavour to its proceedings. 

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CPL COO looks to making the CPL work out despite coronavirus fears after IPL 2020 postponed

The CPL usually takes place in the August-September window of the cricketing calendar every year but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has put the tournament's future in serious doubt. The fact that the BCCI had the IPL 2020 postponed and may host it later in the year, can challenge the CPL's revenues and its viability. CPL Chief Operating Officer Pete Russell recently talked to ESPNCricinfo about the challenges that his league faces in current times. Russell looked confident about being able to maintain the CPL brand as he humbly admitted that the league had made more mistakes than it had done otherwise. But these mistakes will help the brand sustain itself and grow in the coming times, Russell implied. 

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CPL to learn from the IPL owners, claims COO

Two CPL franchises are now owned by IPL owners and that is something that Russell has tried to look at very positively. The KKR and KXIP owners have their respective franchises in the CPL and Russell admitted that this is a great opportunity for the CPL to learn from the people who are part of the biggest, most-successful cricket league in the world, the IPL. Pete Russell explained that the CPL's current objective is to find a sweet spot in length so that the tournament is not too fatiguing to the viewers or to the players.

Trinbago Knight Riders is owned by Red Chillies Entertainment, who also solely own Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab's consortium of owners bought the St. Lucia Zouks franchise months after the previous CPL season ended.

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Talking about comparisons to other leagues, Russell expressed how he felt that the CPL is the second-best cricket league in the world. He further added how after the IPL, people usually think about the Big Bash or the T20 Blast, which are run by bigger boards. But even the CPL has had great engagement and entertainment value over the years, Russell claimed. The executive also talked about eventually expanding into newer markets like the USA and establishing a Women's CPL.

The future of CPL 2020 is yet to be decided and will highly depend on what happens to the BCCI's IPL 2020 postponed status and the T20 World Cup's dates decided by the ICC.

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