The specialised infrastructure and operating expenses required to host the BPL, however, is extremely costly, and it is not at all clear that either the long or short-term benefits of the games are anywhere nearly large enough to cover the economic costs. Bangladesh, a country with a staggering 160 million population strives for achieving the middle income country status by 2021. With this in mind and despite numerous economic shocks of external and domestic origin along with inflationary pressure and other monetary management problem, is the country ready to host such a major event within the country?
Academic consensus seems to be that money splashed in sports events can hardly ever be defended or justified on economic grounds, and that the evidence for their contribution to the promotional objectives of the host cities is not concrete. In specific cases if only the event can assist in poverty reduction, as well as promote community and infrastructure developments, in the urban and rural areas, then the event will be a success as in the case of South Africa when it hosted the 2010 Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup.
The BPL is a domestic cricket competition, but the major attraction is that cricketing superstars from across the globe showcase their talent alongside with the domestic stars. A bucketful of money has been splashed on cricketers through this league. The 20-20 cricket has become increasingly popular in Bangladesh since neighbouring India launched the Indian Premier League (IPL) four years back. Like the IPL, the BPL has become popular among politicians, players, actors, businessmen, cricketers and cricket lovers. Interestingly, while all of them make millions, we in the gallery end up in losing.
Among the seven divisions in Bangladesh, six were chosen (with the exception of Rangpur division) as the franchise teams to participate in the tournament. $6.49 million has been spent to buy these six franchises. It is comparatively a low price with a base price set at $1.0 million for each team. Chittagong was the most expensive franchise at $1.2 million and Barisal the least at $1.01 million.
The BCB expected a massive demand for these franchises while it was not predicted at all that the highest price to reach for a franchise would only be a $200,000 bump from the base price. Foreign buyers were welcomed to take part in the bidding war but none came forward. So that was something the country should be sad about. It could have brought some foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country. As a least developed country Bangladesh needs FDI for its enduring development process. We can only wish ourselves good luck for the near future when some more new franchises will be in the market or some of the franchisees owned by local conglomerates will be sold to foreign companies.
