 Yes, staying with cricket on the Sports Bank Zone, Caribbean Premier League matches made a return to Kensington Oval this year for the first time since 2019 and Jamaican fans were hopeful that they too would see a return of CPL matches at Sabina Park. But the fixtures did not list the historic ground as a host across five legs. Back in 2019, the last time CPL was contested in Jamaica, CPL reported a substantial economic performance. This is what they said. The Hero Caribbean Premier League has announced that the tournament's economic impact for Jamaica, the 2019 event which took place between September 4 and October 12, created a total economic impact of 17.5 million in the country, a 66.3% increase on the results that were achieved during the 2018 event. In addition to the economic impact figure, the tournament filled 4,300 hotel rooms in Jamaica, an increase of 74.3% on the previous year that was 2018, working closely with the local tourism authority, the CPL also created content that showed why people should visit Jamaica and experience what this culturally diverse country has to offer. Joining us to delve further into the economic benefits that Jamaica from hosting CPL matches are, Jamaica Tally was owner Chris Prasad and CEO Jeff Miller. Gentlemen, it's great to have you on the Sportsmax zone. How are you doing? We're doing fine. Thank you. Yeah, fantastic. So let's start here. Can you give us an idea of your level of disappointment that given the numbers coming out of 2019, the last time the CPL was held in Jamaica and at Sabrina Park, that we've not been able to get the tournament back? The biggest disappointment really, as the defending champions, we don't have the opportunity for the team to play in Jamaica this year. We went to tournament last year and we talked by at least winning the tournament that we were able to gotten the support from the government to return to Jamaica this year. So we're extremely disappointed, not only from a management standpoint, but from a player standpoint, a support staff standpoint and the fans around the Caribbean. Yeah, and Jeff, we have heard you articulate this point in the past. Chris Prasad as a first-time parents here on the Sportsmax zone. Let me get a sense from you about the kind of dialogue you would have had with the government in the past few years that resulted in no agreement for Sabina Park matches. Lance, there's been multiple high-level meetings in Jamaica and outside of Jamaica. And there's been a serial of disappointments. It leads us to believe that there is almost a strategic interest in not supporting cricket in Jamaica. And that has even cemented more considering that we won the tournament without the home-based crowd. Without the fan base that is needed to provide the energy for the boys. And we did not get any support for last year. As a matter of fact, we didn't get any congratulatory messages from anybody. So I'm wondering what would it take to bring games to Jamaica? From where we're sitting, it's easy. We just need support from the government, economic support. We can go into what it will take or what it takes to run a franchise. It's a real business and we've been burning cash in the first four or five years. A business cannot continue running at a loss. So I'm here to answer your questions. I want to get you to explain to our viewers who may not be fully aware of the structure and the sort of partnerships that governments get into with the CPL regarding staging home matches. So what is it then that the St. Kitt's government, the St. Lucia government, the Barbados government, Trinidad government, Guyana government would have partnered financially with the CPL franchises that the Jamaican government isn't doing or hasn't done? Okay, so let's go back a little higher up in how the business is run. A franchise has forced stream of income. You have the central revenue which comes from the broadcast rights and so on from the league. You have gates which if we play there will come. You have the Kitt's sponsorship which is from the shirts and so on and then you have the government support. Now the business model that CPL has for these franchises, the expenses, for example, of the players' salaries and the cricket operation and so on involves forced stream of income in full play. Now for us, the government support is missing and so we tried to operate without your government support, hoping that the government will see the benefits and we couldn't convince them. Now, if we were to continue, we would have to continue at lower cost and that means to play in other venues to join in with the other teams if you will, the cost is lower. To play in Jamaica, it requires more cost for all the cricket operation. It goes with a separate stadium, a separate country. We have a chart that illustrates the benefits economically to Jamaica since the Tarawa started hosting matches in the middle of the last decade and we'd present that to give our viewers an idea of what will clearly show actually an increase in, this is actually the spend investment through to 2019 where it was just over 1.007 million for the first year but then that went up to 1.6 million, set it off a bit at 1.6 again, 1.8 then down to 1.6 and then the last 2019, 2.2 million dollars. That was the eight year period of the Jamaica Tarawa and the CPL and what was invested. But the economic event impact on Jamaica which had the platforms of media value, the economic multiplier, visitor spend, organizer spend shows clearly here from 2014 when the country benefited US 7.5 million, moving up to a high of 11.1 million in 2016 for that period and then to the last year at 17.5 million. When I listen to you talk here, Chris and Jeff Pryor, it leaves you wondering these charts here show an improving financial product from a Jamaican standpoint where the country benefits. So it is a little hard to understand then gentlemen why the Jamaican government not seeing these benefits here or seeing these benefits here would still not get into a deal with the Jamaica Tarawa to have games continue to buy it apart. Jeff, would you take that one? Well, the last economic impact is tremendous and you can see over the eight year period is over $58 million that CPL brings to Jamaica. Barbados was out last year but Barbados got back in this year because they saw the economic benefits and you can see from the games that have Barbados over the past weekend the support. It's not only that but it's also the development of cricket in Jamaica. It brings out the youngsters on 19s, on the 20 trees to see cricket live, to see international players live for guys to come and train with these big international players. So it's not only that economic benefit but it's the growth and the development of cricket in Jamaica and that's one of the things that is missing and the hotel's benefit. So look, we are wondering why the government have not seen the benefits over the years and I'm hoping that the JCA, the corporate Jamaica and the Jamaica government will all get together and try to bring cricket back to Jamaica next year. Yeah, gentlemen in the past the CPL when in Jamaica has been played at Sabina Park. There is a suggestion that maybe if we explored moving matches to let's say in Trelawney which is closer to the tourist areas of the country then maybe the tourist board would become more interested. Has that been explored at all? Yes, that's a discussion that we have to have. The best CPL is set up now is perfect for Trelawney because as you know there is no likes at Trelawney but CPL is have morning games and have evening games. So the situation of playing games at Trelawney is perfect for the situation that develops now with CPL. So yes, we have explored that and that's one of the suggestions that we have made through the Ministry of Sports and the tourist board that unless you utilize Trelawney for the morning games and Kingston Sabina could be held for the evening games. And how is that suggestion being received or how has it been received? Well, okay, we can see that there's no games this year. So for that, that would be the height of what I've transpired by good. We are still in discussions and we hope that there's control around and we will be back to make it next year. Yeah, I just want to get clear specifically on that point as to when those discussions would have started because maybe after you leave this interview we might get a text message to say well those discussions started rather late so it could not be done for this year and we had to start looking at next year. So can you kind of give us a timeline as to when you would have gotten to that stage of the discussions? January, the proposal was submitted to government in January of this year. This month's proposal was submitted including some of the charts that I saw you had on display. So that process started a long time ago. It wasn't two months, three months, but January was when the proposal was submitted and I think in the government in November or December because the proposal was submitted in January. But gentlemen, Jeff is talking about this year but in just about every year, in prior years, Trelawney was always on the table and we would play at Trelawney if the support is there. It was always an option to play some of the games there. I think we had to play five games, two at Trelawney and three at Kingston. But that was discarding in prior years and even this year like Jeff is saying it was presented again and we didn't get the response that is needed to bring the games in Jamaica. Does the reasons, well have the reasons given by the government to why they would not be able to give the support or they have not been able to give the support. Have those reasons been consistent or have you been getting different reasons in different years? I'm hoping that you would help us find the reasons why they're not supporting the Talos or the fans will. So you haven't been given any? Yeah, look we got the reasons from these numbers are not numbers that are believable. To, you know, cricket is not as popular sport in Jamaica as it was, but not officially that is from, you know, people, you know, in the house of government, not to the very high level. The real reason? I don't know. Chris and Jeff, a few years ago, rumours started swirling around about Jamaica losing the Talos franchise to somewhere else, whether Florida or somewhere else in the Caribbean obviously triggered by some of the difficulties that you speak of now. Is that still a possibility? No, after they played the games in 2008 in the Florida, they met with government thereafter and they pledged that all the games would be played in Jamaica and that's where the team is based and that's where all the games would be played. So that commitment was made and we made it in the proposal. Back then, we made it in the proposal 2019-2021 and the last year it was in that proposal again that all of our home games would be played in Jamaica versus the Jamaica Talos. So after 2018, that was off the table. But I'm a little confused here because you said there was a pledge or a commitment. Was that commitment and pledge coming from the government about staging matches in Jamaica and why would they make that commitment if it is that they know that they need your support and to continue playing in Jamaica as business people, it wouldn't be viable for the Talos to continue playing in Jamaica if you're not getting the government support. Well, that was in 2018-2019. We got support but then COVID came in and then things like the economics changed. But the economics changed all to the card game and the other items to continue to see the value that CPL brought to the respective items but Jamaica didn't see that and that's very real. But 2019 is where that engagement came into play. But Lance, Jeff is talking about support in 2019 but the support that came is really a fraction of what is needed to really sustain the games, you know, the operation in a... So Chris, if I'm understanding you correctly, when the Jamaican government supported the team to the extent that they did, are you suggesting that the support was less than the support other territories are getting from their governments? A small fraction, it's a small fraction of what the other territories are giving to the other franchise. Yeah, I want to pick up on a point that I think you mentioned, Chris, and you pointed out that it was unofficial, that it was not coming from official sources but the point about cricket being a dying sport in Jamaica. And try and follow me here because in recent years I can't recall a cry from a track and field organization that has not been met by the government. We've seen cries from netball where the government has stepped in and supported that. We've seen calls from football, the reggae girls, the reggae boys where there has been support. Have you thought that in a situation like this, that maybe the thought process is indeed that the sport of cricket is dying within the country and or is just not close to the top of the priority list at this stage and that is part of why you are not getting the type of commitments that you would like from the government? You know, I think it could be a little of all of the above and if that is so, it is unfortunate because what we are seeing is cricket blossoming in all the other Caribbean territories. In Guyana it is the most popular event of the year. I believe the same is in Trinidad, in St. Lucia, it's the same thing. That is why at the beginning I said there might be a strategic direction that the government wants to take in the way they assign support. But what I want to appeal here is that the support is really not given for anything. The economic impact as of four years ago was $18 million. That is the real economic impact plus there are social and non-tangible benefits that it even brings. So if it is dying, I would like to join with the government and bring it back to life. Look, we have a multi-million dollar stadium in Kingston. We have a multi-million dollar stadium in Sri Lankan. We have a huge fund base because I could see them in social media that are following what is going on here. I believe that the stage is set for the revival of cricket in Jamaica. And we are ready to come but we cannot operate continuously at the last. There's a four-legged stool here in the revenue streams and I call them out already. If one leg is missing, the stool follows over and that's what we have. What type of money are we talking about quickly because we're almost out of time? Getting into specifics for Jamaica, I can say that in the other territories, the support has been ranging anywhere from 750 to north of a million. And that is the loss which we'll be seeing or even more when we don't play in Jamaica because there are benefits also when you're playing in Jamaica as a home territory. So as it is, to avoid that revenue not being there, we have to cut costs and operate in other territories and sort of get efficiency, you know, scale. All right, we're out of time. Gentlemen, it was a pleasure speaking with you on this issue. Clearly we need to have more discussions on this and hopefully sometime we'll be able to have an in-depth discussion with the Minister of Sports as well, the Honourer of Bolivia, Bamsi Green. Gentlemen, thanks very much. At the track is going to be next.