The 2022 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) generated a huge economic impact for Saint Lucia with eight matches taking place at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in September of last year.
The total economic impact for 2022 was $29,212,313, a 113% increase on the figure from the last time Hero CPL had matches with fans in the stadium in 2019.
With the tournament creating jobs, filling hotels and increasing income for businesses across the country, the Saint Lucia leg of the tournament can be considered a success from both a cricketing and an economic perspective.
The rise in economic impact has, in part, been driven by the change to the tournament structure that now sees all six teams, TV production crew and tournament staff travelling around the region as one cohort, spending more time in each of the host countries. With more matches being played per host country, travelling fans are now offered even greater value to come and watch the Hero CPL and as a result, there was a significant increase in international arrivals across the tournament in 2022.
This figure was generated by independent, world-renowned research company, YouGov Sport. This figure takes into account the total spent by Hero CPL to put on the 2022 event, the value of media exposure for the country from the broadcast of matches and the money spent with local business by those who travelled into Saint Lucia for the tournament.
The total viewership for the 2022 Hero CPL was a record 721.8million, a record for the tournament. This is the third successive year that the tournament has generated a viewership figure of over half a billion.
The 2022 tournament saw a total of 6,766 hotel room nights filled, a 42% increase from the 2019 figure.
Pete Russell, Hero CPL’s CEO, said: “It was a real pleasure to be back in Saint Lucia for the first time since 2019 and the response we had from the public was electric. To see the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground full and jumping was fantastic and we are very pleased that the support we have had from Saint Lucia has been rewarded with these very impressive economic impact numbers.”