The league will feature 7 provincial franchises that have a mixture of local and international stars as well as The press conference yesterday (16th Monday) held at the Atrium Lobby, upcoming national talents, which will provide an exciting platform for the cricket loving community in Sri Lanka to identify and relish the chance of seeing the future of Sri Lanka Cricket.
The Secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket, Nishantha Ranathunga began his welcome address by saying “Today marks another milestone of Sri Lanka cricket realising the dream of cricket lovers and people of all corners from our country.” He also went on to mention the fact that for almost 30 years only 4 out of the 9 provinces had access to the game, but now it is open for all far and wide to take part in this game.
Speaking next, the Chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket Upali Dharmadasa expressed his thoughts on the upcoming premier league, and assured that it will be a stellar event which will bring the best of cricket and will also help the local players develop their game with the experiences gained from associating well established international players that will take part in the tournament.
With the conclusion of his speech, the Chairman launched the official logo of the ‘Sri Lankan Premier League’, which was followed by the Official Theme Song, which is sung in all four languages. Even though it is multilingual the theme song is purely Sri Lankan as local artists created it.
CEO of Somerset Entertainment Ventures (SEV), Sandeep Bhammer who incidentally is a Sri Lankan cricket fan, and has also dropped batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar during his school career for nought went on to speak on his
passion for the game, and his connection with Sri Lankan cricket from the past, which dates back to the glory days of 1996. He also spoke on behalf of his team at SEV who have partnered with Sri Lanka Cricket in organizing this tournament by saying ‘We all love cricket, and we all love Sri Lanka’.
Current Captain of Sri Lanka Cricket Mahela Jaywardene stressed that while all the financial gain is made we should not forget to harness the talent, improve the facilities outstation, and get every possible youngster in Sri Lanka to play cricket and develop cricket as a sport in Sri Lanka.
It is also understood that the signing of three Under 21 players is compulsory, while one of them should represent their team in each match.
Karan Mehta who is a consultant and an integral member of the marketing team in relation to the SLPL with past experiences as an Assistant Manage in the marketing frame work in the Indian Premier League explained to the audience about the events and festivities that will coincide with the Sri Lanka Premier League.
The SLPL will include the much talked about spider cams that will hover around the stadium bringing fabulous pictures of the match from angles that are humanly impossible to reach. There will be food stalls, Live Bands, DJs that will pump the stadium creating a cracker atmosphere. Also in attendance will be the ever-present Papare bands that personify any Sri Lankan sports event. The cheerleaders are set to perform on four podiums around the grounds. The official SLPL mascot will interact with the fans, as live replays will be showed on giant screens. He concluded his speech by saying it would be “21 days of complete entertainment, all the good things in life packed into cricket”.
On behalf of the MCC Spirit of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara went on to state that they would partner with the SLPL to promote Sri Lanka Cricket. “We are delighted to work with the SLPL to promote the MCC Spirit of Cricket Global Message and instil the values of playing hard but fair throughout the SLPL tournament” are some of the thoughts shared by the hierarchy of the MCC Spirit of Cricket.
On a more personal not Kumar Sangakkara went to mention, “I believe very strongly that the SLPL will hold true to its core value of promoting Sri Lanka Cricket. He also went on to reiterate his captain Mahela Jaywardene’s sentiment of the main priority, which is to enhance and develop the skills of Sri Lankan Cricket.
Brand Ambassadors of the Sri Lanka Premier League will be no other than Bhathiya and Santhush (BnS) who are pioneers in promoting Sri Lankan music on a global stage.
Questions and Answers
The press conference concluded with the Q & A session between the media personnel and the members of the head table, which included the prominent figures in Sri Lanka Cricket and Somerset Entertainment Ventures.
In many questions posed on funding and the distribution of income, it was clear that most of the cost would be borne by the franchises, as the SLC will have to only spend on the venues and a few other technical arrangements. Even this will be subsidised by the contributions made by the franchises.
To avoid defaults in payments, each franchise is liable to pay the full guarantee three weeks prior to the event, and before the official signing of contracts with players. This will ensure that the money will be paid in due time to the players involved as well as the other additional necessities. The franchises will have to bear the cost on everything in relation to their team, which includes accommodation, food and so on. This will also include an insurance cover by the franchises. These franchises will also have to make a yearly contribution for the continuity of the tournament. A franchise that is unable to meet the guarantee by the due date will not be considered in the tournament.
It was also clear that no Indian Player would take part in this year’s edition, as the BCCI has disallowed Indians taking part in other leagues apart from the IPL.
No television rights have been authorized as yet but earlier reports stated set max is likely to obtain the tv rights.
When questioned about the current pending SLC contracts, Upali Dharamadasa urged the media not to make problems out nothing and will look to complete the signing of contracts before the 25th of this month.
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