CPL likely to return to Florida in 2017

The Caribbean Premier League is in the process of making plans to play another round of matches at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida for the 2017 season. A Broward County Parks official has told ESPNcricinfo that CPL officials have requested two sets of week-long time frames to be blocked off for possible use by the CPL in the month of August.

The CPL made its Florida debut in 2016, playing six matches to end the league phase from July 28 to 31. The games were the first revenue-generating cricket to come to the Lauderhill ground in four years, sparking renewed interest in utilising the venue as India and West Indies played a pair of T20Is there just one month later. Though the hurricane season in Florida runs from July through November, not a single over was lost across the four days of play, with the only interruption being a 50-minute lightning delay that pushed back the start of the final match of the weekend, between St Lucia Zouks and Jamaica Tallawahs.

Tropical weather did make an appearance four weeks later though in August when India played West Indies at the same venue. The first match between the two sides finished without any problems but the second ended with no result after a brief thunderstorm exposed poor drainage at the facility.

CPL organizers have been bullish about bringing more games to the USA, with talks of holding games at other venues outside of Florida. However, the Central Broward Regional Park remains the only ICC-certified ODI- and T20I-approved facility in the country.