The pre-eminent 50 over tournament of the season, the Dhaka Premier League (DPL) will not be heavily promoted this season, said Ahmed Sajjadul Alam, the chairman of marketing, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) yesterday.
Earlier in the year, the DPL was granted list ‘A’ status by the ICC. The league has long been the platform for Bangladeshi players to showcase their abilities on the national stage and make a claim for a place in the international arena.
This year however, the DPL has been postponed a number of times - with the board, the clubs and the players in conflict as to the arrangements of the tournament - and with just a few days to go before the league gets underway – the BCB said that they have no plans to promote the tournament under such circumstances.
Sajjadul said that the board simply does not have enough time to work on marketing the event this season. “As you know, the league has been postponed a couple of times earlier, so it was difficult for us to work on this issue. Still, if any company wants to engage with DPL by sponsoring the league, we will always welcome them,” he said.
Sajjadul added that a large number of the league’s matches being staged outside the capital of Dhaka made it more difficult for the board to advertise the tournament. “To be honest, it is very difficult this season to hope for great marketing for the DPL as the games might be played outside Dhaka. Most of the potential sponsors are based in Dhaka, so this has made them less likely to invest in the DPL this year,” he said.
Nonetheless, Sajjadul was upbeat about the board’s long term plan regarding the league. “We have some plans regarding the promotion of the DPL and we are looking forward to sit for a four to five year deal with any big sponsors to promote the league on a larger scale, but at the moment it will be difficult for us,” he said.
Previously, the start day of the league had been delayed a number of times over the issue of a new player recruitment system, which the league clubs favoured but which led to the players having their salaries reduced. After much debate, the BCB implemented the system while promising the players it would only be used for this season only.