CRICKET- New ownership takes over Tridents

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The Barbados Tridents will have new owners for the upcoming 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League season. 

The USA-based CMG Companies (CMG) leads a team of local and international investors in the acquisition of the cricket franchise in Barbados.

CMG, through its affiliates, primarily owns and operates franchise restaurants, hotels, and real estate across America and is one of the largest owners of a major fast-food franchise.

CMG is also no stranger to sports, with sponsorship deals with NBA teams including the Dallas Mavericks, several similar initiatives at the collegiate and grassroots level, investment in MASL’s Dallas Sidekicks, along with past ownership the Jamaica Tallawahs.

The move comes as the Trident’s former owner Vijay Mallya, continues to battle against extradition from the United Kingdom to India, where he is alleged to have committed bank fraud, with authorities trying to recover millions in unpaid loans.

Mallya, also had stakes in the Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore and Formula One team Force India, but had to relinquish control due to his financial woes.

CMG’s takeover also comes as good news for Tridents’ players, who had not been fully compensated for 2018.

Principal of CMG Manish Patel said the decision to invest in the Tridents was a good business opportunity.

“Selling our ownership rights of the winning Jamaica Tallawahs held from 2014-2016 was the right move for us as a business, but we missed being involved in the region and in CPL.

“When the chance to purchase the Tridents came along we were delighted, especially with the opportunity to bring good strong local partners onboard. We can’t wait to get started at enhancing the profile of this team on and off the field and to bringing a comprehensive sports entertainment package to Barbados. We will work very hard to make Barbadians proud of their team,” Patel said.

Local businessmen Kailash Pardasani of Promotech and Terrol Cummins and Arvind Gopwani of Silver Technetium Capital Inc. (STCI) are the co-owners of the Tridents.

Chief operations officer of the CPL Pete Russell has thrown his full support behind the new owners.

“The issues that the Tridents have faced in recent months have been well documented and are being fully addressed as a priority. We have been working tirelessly to find a solution and we believe that this international-local investor collaboration is the ideal solution.

“This is a group of passionate cricket fans and astute business minds who have experience of successfully running a CPL franchise. The Tridents are in safe hands and the issues the franchise has faced are a thing of the past,” Russell said.

The 2019 CPL competition will take place between September 4 and October 12.