 Yes, top of the sportsmax zone for this Thursday, we continue our discussion on the cricket issue that dominated our show yesterday. The Jamaica Tala was being resold to the Caribbean Premier League by owner Chris Prasad, the Guyanese businessman, citing a lack of government support as a reason for his decision to return the franchise and speaking on Wednesday's edition of the sportsmax zone, he went into details of the issues. We did not get an acknowledgement, a phone call or a thank you from anybody in the house of government. And then I realized that cricket is not at the top of anybody's agenda there. Okay, joining us on set to weigh in on the discussion is CPL tournament operations director Michael Hall, a man who has sport in his DNA, his late dad JD Hall for a long time was chairman of the Carreras Sports Foundation. And Mike, we see the work that you've been doing with the CPL and even before that in other sporting administrations. Your thoughts on what Dr Akshay Man Singh said yesterday and also Chris Prasad as we went into this issue? Thanks for having me on the program, James and Ricardo. If I could just start with one small bit of housekeeping, the zone update referred to the Tala was as defunct. I would prefer to say that they're in limbo. Limbo? Yes, for now. Okay. Before you move on, is that a suggestion that the name Tala was could still be used in the future even on the different ownership? We may come to that during the course of our discussion. Very hopeful start here for Mike. So I mean, guys, obviously, as a Lee, we're sorry to see what has transpired. We certainly believe that it hasn't been for a lack of effort on the part of both the Tala ownership and the league itself. I've been involved in a number of discussions with the government, myself and Pete Russell on behalf of the league. And if we were to take a look at the actual benefits that we have advised the government and shown the government that have accrued to Jamaica over the years that the CPL has been played, games have been played here, I think that it would be reasonable to say that they've probably missed a trick by not supporting the CPL as a partner with the league and with the franchise. As I say, it's disturbing and I'm being a little bit parochial here now as a Jamaican. It's disturbing that there is no franchise currently domiciled in Jamaica. And I think it just doesn't sit well. I mean, obviously with the cricket loving public here in the country who supported the team tremendously when games were played here in Jamaica and with ourselves as a league because let's face it, Jamaica is the largest market in the Caribbean and we think the country stood to benefit and stands to benefit in the future with the support should it be forthcoming. Mike, is there a distinction to be made regarding a growing view that cricket is a dying sport, but a point to be made that the T20 version of the game should not be grouped with the overall attitude to cricket the sport? There's an excellent point, Lance, and I think it's extremely, it's true. Yeah, the T20 version of the game continues to attract the levels of support that are phenomenal. We've seen, I think what we saw in earlier this year, in the summer of this year with the advent and launch of Major League Cricket in the United States, signaled something that as someone who has been involved in cricket administration for the better part of 20 years, it signaled something that we have often and long heard of that the game is going to explode in North America. It has happened. If you look at the backers of Major League Cricket, the teams, the league, there is phenomenal amounts of money being pumped into the sport and the people who are doing this are hugely successful business people who know how to make money and who understand an opportunity when they see it. So I think it's significant that Major League Cricket was launched in the USA this year. I think it's even more significant that T20 cricket is going to be a part of the perhaps the most watched sporting event in the world, the Olympics. And that's in another five, four years. So I agree with you. I don't think that it is fair to say cricket is dying and that includes T20. It definitely doesn't include T20 cricket. Let's talk about some of the benefits, Michael. And we've prepared a graphic to just so our viewers can see what we're talking about. And we're going to have a quick look at that. And I want you to talk us through this because I think it's so important for the viewers to understand what is being spoken about as it relates to what the country can hold the country can benefit from an event like the CPL. Yeah. So Ricardo and Lance and viewers, at the end of every CPL season, we commission a company known as UGOV, which is a global marketing and research company that provides data to players in the sports and entertainment industry around the value that the event would have brought to the host country. And as you can see on the screen, in our first year, well, certainly the first year after which we tracked these numbers, global viewership growth, 65 million in 2014. Some would say a great number. But more than 800, close to a billion people at the end of this most recent season. And that includes eyes on the tournament across all platforms. So television coverage, streaming, social media platforms, et cetera. No matter how you add up those numbers, that's a huge number. And it brings, if I can just skip down to the last bullet point there that speaks to the imagery mentions of Jamaica, right? And those numbers are from 2019 only, right? So, I mean, I know that we were over half, over half a billion viewers in 2019. We're closer to a billion now. But imagery mentions of Jamaica in 2019 for 500 million viewers globally. You can't pay for that kind of exposure. There's a value assigned to it of $5.5 million, and I suppose that's measured by number of minutes during each broadcast and how many times the word was actually mentioned and how many times there were vignettes of Jamaica shown. So that's how that value has arrived at. I suspect, though, that the real value, when you multiply it by the number of eyeballs viewing the tournament and hearing those words and seeing those images, is probably a lot higher than that. Some would say that maybe Jamaica doesn't need the exposure because the Jamaican brand is so strong with athletics and the way the women have been performing in football that globally the brand is so strong that you don't need CPL and you don't need cricket to advance that brand because tourism is already doing well. I would like to think that the Minister of Tourism might disagree with that. I don't think that he would consider more exposure for Jamaica as being a bad thing. I certainly hope he wouldn't, and I don't believe he would. One of the pushbacks from government, and I don't want to get into too much detail about the deals that we've discussed and so on, but certainly a pushback that we would have heard on a regular basis was that they don't see the value in terms of heads in beds. In my view, humbly, I think that's a pretty narrow metric on which to measure the value of the CPL to Jamaica. Yes, tourism is one, but to say that heads in beds are not there, I mean, it's a little bit narrow as far as I'm concerned, right? There are so many other elements that come with hosting CPL games. Direct spend, you know, the CPL cohort is 300 people. They descend on Kingston for seven nights. That's 2,100 hotel nights. You know, these 300 people need to go out when the game is finished or on an off day. I know many of them jump in a tour of Boston and they go to Don's River. I mean, and then there's the spend, you know, transport, restaurants, you know. The trick or don't, even to the peanut man? Absolutely, I mean, and I know for a fact, having been involved at one point in my career as the person running the stadium complex, I know the value that having events there bring to everyone who is associated with that event. You know, the direct spend of the franchise in hiring people to officiate at matches. I mean, Ricardo, if you don't mind, I mean, I know that you were once the PA announcer at CPL, I believe you were at some CPL games. Is that correct? At some point, yes. So, yes, I mean, I'm not saying that your career is the same. So you made a lot of money? No, but, you know, Lance, when you think about it, right? You have five games here or six games here in a course of a week. You know, you have to pay the scorer, the dock word to its manager, you know, the liaison officer, the room, and everybody makes money and everybody looks forward to it. And it's something that really, we try to measure and we put a value on it using the multiplier that these research companies use, but it's hard to really quantify it. And you also can't measure and quantify what it does for the youngsters. The aspiring CPL players will get the opportunity to see some of the best players in the world playing in their backyards and just having the opportunity to see that is in and of itself special. And by having one, no CPL franchise and two, no CPL games in Jamaica, then we have a generation of young cricketers who are being robbed that opportunity. Excellent point, Ricardo. You know, some will argue, well, they can watch it on TV. It's not the same. When you are there live, you feel the atmosphere, you actually see the players in the flesh without any kind of cricket in Jamaica because, sadly, the CPL is not the only cricket that we haven't had in a while. But with the CPL not being played here and, as you say, youngsters not being able to go and see Chris Gale in the flesh or Andre Russell or Robman Powell or Brandon King or whomever, it's just not the same. And they're deprived of what I think is a great opportunity. You know, sport is a sort of generational bonding thing. Your father takes it to cricket as a little boy, you watch the players, and it passes down from generation to generation. You know, with that absent from the scene, it's a huge loss, as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, one quick one before we have to go. I want to take you up back on where you started this discussion because we were having the discussion earlier today about the Talawas and whether, in future, let us say that there is a Jamaican franchise in 2025, as Pete Russell suggested. No, that's the earliest that we can probably hope for. Could the name Talawas still be used? We own the franchise and the name. Ah. And in discussions with potential investors who may have an interest in buying the Talawas or buying a franchise, domiciled in Jamaica, and given the history of the Talawas, the successful history of the Talawas, three-time champions, there is a repossibility that may happen. And if we're rapping, and I don't want to tell any tales out of school, but even as the resale of the franchise to the league is so recent, I have received many inquiries already from people interested in coming into the CPL through ownership of a Jamaican franchise. So there is hope yet. And with that tip of the hat to Craig Butler, the Talawas may rise like the Phoenix. Ha, ha, ha, ha. You're a Craig Butler fan, are you? Um, I plead the fifth. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Michael Hull, it's great having you on the sports mic. Thanks for having me on. It's always a pleasure having Michael Hull on the sports mic. So I'm a man with vast sporting knowledge and expertise, and we are happy to have him. We hope to see him again soon. the tallow was down, but not out. Back with more of the sports matter zone after this.