‘For the sake of the team’ – Kowloon Cantons’ nine women owners sell HK T20 Blitz franchise
CEO Urvashi Sethi-Sodhi says it was a difficult decision to let go but more resources are needed to grow the brand
They were nine ordinary women with an entrepreneurial spirit and a fierce passion for cricket – so it was appropriate that their team would be called Kowloon (Nine Dragons in Cantonese) Cantons.
After three tournaments and two titles, the most successful franchise in Hong Kong T20 Blitz history has grown beyond the financial grasps of the nine women who reached into their own pockets to bring the team to life in 2016.
Cantons yesterday announced that the franchise is to be sold to Dining Concepts, one of the largest restaurant groups in Hong Kong – a painful decision for the previous owners who realised that, without corporate backing, the team could only go so far.
“It surely was not an easy decision and not one that we have made lightly. All of us have put our heart and soul into creating and nurturing this team and bringing it to this level,” said CEO Urvashi Sethi-Sodhi, who will hand over the reins on April 1. “However, the franchise needs a lot more now to grow – it needs a full-time team dedicated to it and resources of another level, something we cannot easily provide.
“It was surely not a monetary consideration [to us], it’s what we felt was the right thing to do for the sake of the team.”
The other four teams in the competition are supported by corporate backers. Sethi-Sodhi and the Cantons management were able to secure a number of sponsors for 2018 but it became clear that the only way to take the franchise forward was to relinquish control and hand it over to an entity that would have the resources to fulfil the ambitions of the original nine owners – sustain a team in the Blitz for many years while helping to develop cricket in the Hong Kong community.
One of the conditions of the sale was to ensure that the new owners would retain the Kowloon Cantons name, its vision and mission.