Allen Standford making the announcement for next year's multi-million dollar regional Twenty20 tournament at a press conference in Antigua yesterday. - CONTRIBUTED
st john's, antigua, cmc
ANTIGUAN BUSINESSMAN and developer Allen Stanford announced yesterday he would be pumping US $28 million into a unique regional Twenty20 tournament.
The Texan millionaire made the announcement to a group of international and regional cricket media, with 12 West Indies cricket legends including Sir Everton Weekes, Sir Vivian Richards, Sir Garfield Sobers, also present.
Seventeen countries will compete for the top prize of US $1 million in the tournament that is scheduled to take place in August and September 2006 and continue annually.
BIG MONEY
The second place finisher will also receive US$500,000 with the boards of the top two teams receiving US$200,000 and US$100,000 respectively, to be used for developmental purposes.
Additionally, the Man-of-the-Match in every game will receive US$25,000 and the Man-of-the-Match in the championship game will receive US$100,000.
Each country's governing cricket body will receive US$100,000 when they confirm their participation while an additional US$10,000 stipend per month will be given to support the players and coaches.
Stanford will also shell out US$5,000 per month to be used strictly for maintenance and upkeep of each country's facilities.
He will employ two full-time nutritionists and four professional athletic trainers to travel around the region regularly in order to train the teams and assist them wherever needed.
RESURGENCE OF CRICKET
"My vision for the Stanford Twenty20 tournament is that it will be the catalyst for a resurgence of love for the game, that it will signal the return to the glory days of cricket," Stanford said at the launch yesterday.
"I want to create a professional Super League where West Indian cricketers can do what they do best, playing with their fellow countrymen and against their Caribbean counterparts and be rewarded for excellence."
He continued: "I have been a part of the Caribbean community for over 20 years and I have witnessed firsthand the power that the game of cricket wields over the people in this region."
"West Indies cricket is an almost tangible force which can unify an entire country, an entire group of people, no matter the differences that might exist off the field. The energy, the pride, the passion that cricket has inspired in the people of the Caribbean is not only moving but infectious."
He said that he had been motivated to undertake the initiative after noticing "a slow erosion of faith in the sport which has given way to feelings of disillusionment and low expectations."
Stanford indicated that much of the US$28 million budget would be invested in the regional game over the coming months up to November 2006.
At that time, a Stanford Super-Star team will be selected by the legends to play one match each against two world-class teams to be named, with the winners taking the US$5 million up for grabs.
The 17 countries invited to participate in the competition are Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Maarten, the British Virgin Islands, St Vincent and Trinidad & Tobago.
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