'SLPL franchises pulling out' - sports minister

The future of the Sri Lanka Premier League appears uncertain, with the country's sports minister quoted by a local paper as saying the franchise owners were "pulling out" over losses incurred in the first edition. The inaugural season of the SLPL was held last year after much uncertainty with no Indian players taking part, a development that hurt the league's commercial viability without significant viewership in the lucrative Indian market.

"We have a problem this year. The franchise owners are pulling out," Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Sri Lanka's sports minister, told Ceylon Today. "The tournament is in trouble.

"Whether we like or not, we should understand how important India is to a cricketing economy like ours. Without India nothing will be successful. We (the sports ministry) are going to discuss this with Sri Lanka Cricket and see what is the best they could do."

When contacted by ESPNcricinfo, SLPL tournament director Ajit Jayasekara declined comment on the sports minister's statements but said as far as he knew, there were no issues with the tournament's second edition. Sandiip Bhammer of Somerset Entertainment Ventures, SLC's promotion partners for the league, was more forthcoming.

"I have no clue of any pull-outs," Bhammer told ESPNcricinfo. "All the franchises are very much in and the tournament is very much on. The international players have signed letters of intent and we are looking ahead to the draft in the last week of this month."

The seven SLPL franchises were not sold outright but instead were leased for a seven-year period by SLC, something the minister said was one of the impediments to their continued involvement with the league. Jayasekara, however, said the request for the lease-extension was the only impediment.

"The franchisees have asked for an extension of their lease, so that they can recover their costs - that's the only issue," he said. "We have sent that for approval to the ministry, as we do with all major decisions, and they may have consulted the attorney general about it." Jayasekara did not give details on the length on the proposed extension, saying "there is no time period as such, at present".

Having been initially announced for 2011, the first edition of the SLPL was postponed when the BCCI refused to issue no objection certificates for the participation of Indian players, around whom much of the sponsorship had revolved. The BCCI also denied Indian players permission to play in the 2012 edition, citing a home series against New Zealand as an obstacle.

The inaugural SLPL had been a minor financial boon for Sri Lanka Cricket, who remain in heavy debt after building two new stadia and renovating a third for the 2011 World Cup. The board had postponed three home Tests against South Africa this year, effectively to make room for the SLPL, but should the tournament fail to materialise, SLC may be left in worse financial shape than if the Tests had been retained.