T&T reportedly offers US$1Million more than Guyana to host CPL Finals

Guyana's Finance Minister Winston Jordan has expressed disappointment following reports that Guyana may have lost the bid to host the finals of the 2016 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament.

T&T reportedly offers US$1Million more than Guyana to host CPL Finals

After initially indicating no interest in hosting the CPL Finals, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago may have outplayed Guyana and could end up hosting the finals of the much-anticipated cricket tournament.

Guyana’s Finance Minister Winston Jordan has expressed disappointment following reports that Guyana may have lost the bid to host the finals of the 2016 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament.

Guyana was actively pursuing the opportunity to host the finals but neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago has reportedly offered US$1 Million more that what Guyana was prepared to pay for the tournament.

Minister Jordan told the local media on Wednesday that the matter was before Cabinet for review and he has not received any official information from CPL officials.

He said while there were engagements with CPL, the rights to host the last games has not been finalized. “Nothing is final until you sign, so while you may have been negotiating with us somebody else might have been in talks.”

Jordan reminded that CPL had approached Trinidad first before it received an indication that the country could not go with its asking price of US$4.5 million.

During negotiations with Guyana, Trinidad reportedly asked for a review and later succeeded in securing the bid. “Of course there is a degree of disappointment that we are not hosting the finals, we have never held one so there will be a degree of disappointment,” Jordan added.

Minister Jordan said Guyana does not have the reserves of Trinidad and that country remains an attractive venue based on crowds and strength of home team; airlift and accommodation.

He refused to say what Guyana was willing to pay. “That stays under wrap because we didn’t win the bid. We could only go so far with what we have, so anything beyond that we would not have been able to afford that.”

“When we first announced our intention there were some people who said we are wasting money and the money could be used to improve grounds, if everybody had said this is a good idea we might have secured the bid,” he added.

This is the 4th finals being held in Trinidad and Tobago. Last year that country invested US$2.5 million and there was massive interest and sold out crowds for the matches for the final.

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