• SLC makes $ 2.125 from official rights holder IPG group
• Very pleased the way youngsters performed: Dodanwela
• Players in top category earned around Rs. 25m

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

LPL-3 Tournament Director Samantha Dodawela

Despite the negative publicity the Lankan Premier League (LPL) received ahead of its third edition and attempts to sabotage it by certain interested parties, the tournament overall turned out to be a great success for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the people of the country.

“I would say it was the best tournament that we ever had. The exposure the youngsters got by playing alongside some of the overseas players, I was very pleased the way they performed. It will definitely help to build up our future and our second string,” said Samantha Dodanwela in his first role as Tournament Director.

“Before the tournament commenced, we had a lot of challenges in terms of gaining sponsorships due to the economic crisis the country was facing. Several local companies who were willing to come forward opted out at the last moment due to financial issues, but we were able to secure the required sponsorships through new sponsors who came in,” said Dodanwela. 

“There was Softlogic and Lyca mobile, the newcomer to the system was Aura Lanka who came forward to sponsor Dambulla. They were very keen and looking forward to the next LPL and eager to win the tournament.”

Talking on the aspect of how the LPL helped the tourist industry Dodanwela stated: “If you take the five teams every one of them had more than 30 players and support staff, that’s about 150 people. Other than that, we had the commentators, doctors, important security personnel, SLC officials, and technical committees and umpires’ committees. Altogether there were more than 200 people. During the last 18 days we had to take more than 400 rooms from hotels which is a very substantial amount. Those are direct involvements, indirectly merchandisers, vendors, and about 600 security personnel all of them benefited from this tournament.”

It was not only SLC that benefited from hosting the LPL but even the players.

“Each year SLC is supposed to get a 10% increase on profits from IPG. The first year we got $ 1.5m, the second year $ 1.7m and this year we have got $ 2.125m (Rs. 700-800m). Next year it will go up by a little bit more,” said Dodanwela. “Out of the Rs. 700m there is a cost factor for SLC. The expenses of the match referees, umpires etc., all that is borne by SLC. So even if you make Rs. 200m it is still profitable.”

“If you take the players, most of them in the top category made about Rs. 25 million, which is a fairly big amount for three weeks of cricket. Even the youngsters made about Rs. 5-6 million. Some people are cussed, they don’t want to see these youngsters making money. That is their profession. When you do that only their lifestyle will improve, their mindset will improve, and then only they can concentrate on their cricket. When you have problems at home and all that they cannot concentrate.”

Dodanwela said that next year he wants to increase the number of participating teams to six to give all the players the opportunity. “There are some players who were not picked at the draft. If we can have six teams and reduce the number of players for each team from 22 to about 20 or 18, the quality will also improve, and you are giving another 10-15 players the opportunity to take part.”

“Our window is August so next year we should be able to get more and better overseas players. We couldn’t get them this year because of the LPL being postponed to December. Players from England and Australia who had confirmed at the draft in August had to go out because of the Big Bash in Australia, even though some of the team owners were willing to pay something more to get them.”   

Dodanwela said although the LPL clashed with the World Cup soccer tournament, he was pleased with the attendance.

“The LPL getting postponed from August to December had its repercussions, there wasn’t enough time to create an awareness ahead of the tournament. Also, during the LPL we had the World Cup soccer. Everyone’s interest was focused on it. Till 18 December people started watching because matches started around 8.30 in the night. Even the cricket clubs were showing the World Cup soccer on giant screens, not the cricket. After the 18th only the people started to come and watch cricket. On 22 and 23 December the crowd was amazing. And we saw a fantastic final going into the last over.”

Throughout the tournament Dodanwela said the anti-corruption unit from the ICC along with the local body was present at all the matches and monitored everything.

“On each and every floor there was security at the hotels where the players and officials were staying. When the team wanted to go out, they had to get permission from the anti-corruption unit and they kept me informed. There is a logbook for the players and officials when they go out and return which is attended to by the team manager.”

“Overall, I am happy that I have given something back to cricket. I had a lot of obstacles and challenges at the beginning until the tournament took place. The support that I got from all the committees was very commendable.”

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