Organisers of the Afghanistan Premier League said the experiences gained form the inaugural edition, which concluded in Sharjah on Sunday, will help to create a better product the next season.

Snixer Sports, who organised the APL T20 in association with the Afghanistan Cricket Board, revealed expenses went over budget which in turn affected the profitability but added that in the end, it was all about delivering a world-class product.

“We were executing the league in a foreign land. This was a combination of three countries – India, Afghanistan and the UAE. We are from India, the board is Afghanistan and the hosts the UAE. In terms of logistics, costing, pricing etc… it can go haywire,” Ashish Sethi, CEO of Snixer Sports, told Sport360.

“Whatever expenses you calculate, it exceeds… at times twice or three times. Hosting in a foreign nation compared to our home was a challenge.

“We have created a world-class league. Yes, the ‘P & L’ (profit and loss) went haywire. Calculations went haywire. But it’s the first season of a new business. These things happen,” Sethi added.

Crowd size was decent at best for matches in Sharjah. As Balkh Legends stormed towards victory in the final against Kabul Zwanan on Sunday, the stands had a sizeable Afghan crowd, albeit not a full house.

Sethi didn’t have the numbers regarding TV reach or crowd attendance but admitted step will be taken next season to ensure there are more people in the stands.

“Viewership has been decent. We have broadcast in over 26 countries and 11 regions. We have monetized a few regions. In terms of local viewership, we will make more efforts to have more crowd next year. Patience is the key. One has to be persistent. Things will fall into place.”

One of the issues that hampered the tournament is that it received approval from the ICC a little over a month back while the player draft was held at the beginning of last month – less than 30 days before the start of the tournament on October 5. That didn’t allow for a concerted promotion and marketing campaign.

Sethi added that they wanted to conduct the first edition in Sharjah, learn from the experience and then look at growing in the future.

“We wanted to host this season in Sharjah keeping the crowd in mind. We are open to other venues. We are looking at places where there is a good Afghan population,” he added.

PRIDE OF AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan board CEO Shafiqullah Stanikzai said the league is the culmination of a dream, but added lessons needed to be learned from wherever there were any shortfalls.

“Dream has come true. As we are a new nation, there are many lessons learnt. What has pleased us is that the global interest in this league has been tremendous,” Stanikzai told Sport360.

“We need to work better the next edition. Everything has been positive so far. We will learn from our mistakes.”