KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Kingsmen Sports Enterprise, the organisation behind the reestablishment of a Jamaican franchise in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), has given the assurance that the country’s economy will benefit from its presence.
The Fawad Sarwar-owned Kingsmen Sports Enterprise, based in the United States, will be the new owners of the Jamaican franchise for the region’s premier T20 tournament after a successful bidding and negotiation process.
The Jamaican franchise returns in August after a two-year absence, following the departure of former owner Kris Persaud, who sold the franchise back to CPL and moved on to the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons.
Representative, Faisal Mirza says Kingsmen, who also recently acquired the Hyderabad franchise in the Pakistan Super League, viewed Jamaica as the obvious next destination for its growing portfolio.
In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Mirza said the organisation would not be banking on the Jamaican government’s support to run the franchise, but would utilise its own resources.
“The government in Jamaica has been very cooperative in being forthright, and desires to bring cricket back to Jamaica through the CPL [but] I think most importantly, that we ourselves as Kingsmen are really driven to make this a success.
“We don’t want to rely on outside influence. Being able to partner on things is ideal. Still, typically we try to drive from within, and that helps create that sort of paradigm that we’re looking to create that creates a symbiotic relationship with the government, which sees meaningful activity happening,” Mirza said.
“Once that happens, that should then give them the confidence to boost involvement within the CPL ecosystem, as well, because it could just as well be part-owner driven, part-Government driven. So we feel the best step forward is to take the initiative ourselves, to start making strategically aligned decisions that feed into the system that give that confidence, and from there build more of a synergy to grow even better.”
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