Dehring: CPL among CWI’s most valuable assets

Cricket West Indies CEO Chris Dehring described the Caribbean Premier League as the region’s most successful cricket initiative undertaken by the regional body in over a decade, even though CWI does not hold full ownership of the league.

Since its launch in 2013, the CPL has grown into the Caribbean’s top T20 competition, with the Trinbago Knight Riders emerging as the most successful franchise, winning five titles, including the 2025 edition led by Nicholas Pooran. This growth has contributed directly to the league’s influence in the region.

Dehring highlighted the league’s strong commercial success and positive impact on regional cricket.

“Let me just say that the CPL is tangibly and empirically the most successful project undertaken by Cricket West Indies in the last 13 or 14 years since its inception,” he said. Addressing concerns about ownership, Dehring stressed that CWI’s returns extend beyond traditional control.

“Ownership, from a legal and technical perspective, does not directly determine the returns you generate from something,” he explained. “There can be various types of relationships — such as partnerships, leases, or licensing agreements — that may provide greater benefits than outright ownership.”

Dehring added that CWI gains significant benefits from the Caribbean Premier League’s success without bearing the financial risks of full ownership.

“We probably take home, from a profit perspective, a substantial piece of the value of that event without having to take the risk of investment,” Dehring said. “We get a very good return from the CPL, and it is one of our most valuable assets. If not cricket, certainly one of our most valuable financial assets.”

Chris Dehring also noted that while CWI does not fully own the Caribbean Premier League, it maintains considerable influence through its licensing control of the tournament.

“Even though from a technical perspective we have some ownership, but not the total ownership of that property, it is one of the family of Cricket West Indies products,” he said, noting that the CPL forms part of the domestic calendar.

He said Cricket West Indies and CPL officials are finalizing a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen cooperation and create more opportunities.

“It is an organization that we work very closely with and are going to be continuing to work even more closely in the future,” he noted.

“The relationship is very important, but I would stress that the relationship is far more than ownership. It is a license… we work very closely with the management team there to deliver on the CPL product itself.”

Dehring reiterated the CPL’s integral role in regional cricket: “It is a part of our West Indies cricket family and domestic season,” he said.

The league’s expansion, with the Jamaica Kingsmen joining in 2026, the launch of a women’s tournament, and its involvement in the T20 Breakout League underscore the CPL’s growing influence and importance to West Indies cricket’s future.