Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) announced that the tournament's economic impact for Barbados last year was US$20,841,961. The tournament was staged between August 8 and 16 September 16. Organisers said that figure represented an increase on the 2017 figure of nearly 40 per cent.
This figure has been calculated using organiser spend, visitor spend and media value and was collated for Hero CPL by world-renowned researchers, SMGInsight.
In addition to that economic impact figure the Hero CPL employed 361 staff in Barbados and filled 4,579 hotel rooms during the 2018 event. The value of media exposure and mentions of Barbados from the coverage was US$10,438,503; almost double that achieved in 2017. This was due in part to the unique sponsorship of the Sky Sports CPL coverage in the United Kingdom by the Visit Barbados campaign.
The Hero CPL spent US$2,644,411 in Barbados during the 2018 event with the tournament hosting five matches in the island.
Combining broadcast and digital viewership, over 200 million fans watched the 2018 season to make it one of the fastest growing leagues in world cricket.
Trinbago Knight Riders are the current Hero CPL champions and the other competing teams are Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots, St Lucia Stars and Jamaica Tallawahs.