The 2014 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Twenty20 cricket pumped a whopping US$166 million into the region’s economy, a new independent economic study has revealed.
The study conducted by SMG-Insight/YouGov, described as of the world’s leading sports measurement, research and analysis companies, says the figure represents a significant increase of 58 percent on the 2013 CPL Twenty20 cricket series.
A very large sum of US$25.1 million was invested into host country St. Kitts and Nevis, second only to Barbados with US$28.7 million.
According to the study, thousands of new jobs were created in tourism and travel across the region and more than 156,000 jobs positively impacted.
“These results are fantastic and are a testament to CPL’s significance as an economic driver in the region,” said Caribbean Premier League CEO, Damien O’Donohoe.
“While we have always said that the Caribbean is without doubt the natural home of Twenty20 cricket, we are very proud to say that CPL is now a truly international event — appealing to fans and players around the world — and one that the people of the Caribbean should be very proud of.”
The study also revealed that there was a significant increase in viewership with the international television audience increasing from 36 million in 2013 to 65 million in 2014.
Twenty-nine broadcasters from the world aired the games live.
According to the study, the figure of US$25.1 million was injected into Jamaica, US$24 million pumped into Guyana; US$21.1 into Trinidad and Tobago, while US$13.9, US$13.8 and US$13.3 were invested into St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada respectively.
