Their decision is likely to put an end to the troubled league that failed to attract the Indian cricketing stars.
Adding to their woes was the proposed Caribbean Premier League clashing with the SLPL.
ial targets in the inaugural edition last year.
The Caribbean Premier League, another T-20 domestic league starts in late July directly clashing with the SLPL that was scheduled to start on August 10.
“We have a problem this year. The franchise owners are pulling out,” Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage confirmed in an interview with Ceylon Today.
“The tournament is in trouble,” he added.
According to minister Aluthgamage, the franchise owners failed to recover their investment last year and instead incurred heavy losses, the main reason for their impending decision.
“We (sports ministry) are going to discuss this with Sri Lanka Cricket and see what is best they could do,” the minister said.
He admitted the local tournament was doomed to fail from the inception following the absence of Indian players.
“Whether we like or not, we should understand how important India is to a cricketing economy like ours. Without India nothing will be successful,” he said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) threw its weight around and barred 12 Indian cricketers appearing in the SLPL last year while alleging that the organizer, Singapore-based Somerset Entertainment, had links to Lalit Modi, the sacked former boss of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Despite repeated assurances by Sri Lanka Cricket and the Sports Ministry, India stuck to its guns.
The main reason for the loss of revenue could be attributed to the absence of Indian cricketing stars, which reduced the marketing value of the SLPL and was played to almost empty stands.
The seven Sri Lanka Premier League teams were auctioned at an average price of $US4.3 million. The reserve price had been set at $US3 million each.
The seven franchises were not sold outright but instead were leased for a seven-year period. After seven years, the franchises were to either sign a fresh agreement or choose to exercise the first right of refusal.
“They, (franchise owners) also want a longer period than the seven years if at all they were to reconsider their decision,” the minister added.
The inaugural SLPL in 2011 had to be called off at the last minute due to the non-availability of Indian players, before kicking off last year without the Indians.
Uva Next won the inaugural championship last year but they had their share of troubles with late payments.
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