KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Former Jamaica Tallawahs chief executive officer Jeff Miller said a lack of support from the government was the reason behind the decision of ownership to repatriate the franchise to the Caribbean Premier League.
Guyana-born businessman Kris Persaud recently sold back the Tallawahs to the Twenty20 league after six years, and he is now one of the driving forces behind the return of a yet-to-be-named franchise to Antigua.
“Over the years, we have failed to get any backing or support from the Jamaican government,” Miller told SportsMax.
“We have submitted proposals over the years requesting government support, and we have failed to agree to say that the government is supporting the franchise.
“The business plan of CPL entails that the governments play a major role in financial support of the franchises, and that’s what the other franchises are receiving from their respective countries, and Jamaica has failed to participate.”
The Tallawahs were a successful outfit on the field, being one of the two teams – Trinbago Knight Riders is the other – to have won the CPL title three times, but this and the allure of the biggest attraction on the Caribbean sporting landscape failed to spur the Jamaican authorities.
“Unfortunately, the franchise cannot be sustained in Jamaica,” Miller added. “We cannot have a franchise where we don’t have home games.
“When you don’t have home games, you’re losing ticket sales, you’re losing merchandising, you’re losing concession, you’re losing sponsors.
“So it’s not only the government support; you’re losing others as well because what business would want to support a franchise if they can’t get any benefits from the franchise playing within the country?
“From what we see, no games were scheduled for 2024 either! It’s unsustainable.”
Miller said current Jamaica sports minister Olivia Grange always supported the franchise. Still, the government was reluctant to pay the CPL hosting fee to guarantee matches on the island.
“I’m not a privilege to those conversations,” he said. “Those conversations would’ve been between them and CPL. I’m not sure what transpired, but from the Tallawah’s standpoint, we know that the minister was graceful in her discussions with us.
“When it came to funding, that’s when things would go off track. We were often promised that there would be something in the budget, nothing substantial, but even a small gesture, we could not receive those funds.”
Miller said the focus now was to get the franchise in Antigua up and running, including a public campaign to name the team to drum up support.
“We have commitments from the Antiguan government,” he said. “We can’t disclose any information, per se, but it’s substantially more than what we got from Jamaica.
“We can’t tell the players; Jamaica’s not supporting us, so we can’t pay your salary. All those things must be taken care of, so we’re looking forward to greener pastures. Antigua is better positioned to support and wants a CPL team back in Antigua.
“We’re a good fit for the franchise. I’m engaging the fans in Antigua to participate in naming the franchise. That deadline should be around January 20th or so. Then, we will announce the name, colors, and logo.”
Previously, CPL operated the Antigua Hawksbill franchise over the tournament’s first two years. Still, the team won only three of 16 matches before the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots eventually replaced them.
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