It’s Big Bash League season again and the success of Australia’s domestic Twenty20 league has left English fans looking on enviously and wondering what might have been.
If English cricket had adopted a similar franchisee-based model instead of the current 18-team county setup, it could all be so different.
English cricket finds itself in a very ironic situation as the T20 format was invented to boost the revenues of counties. But after the ICL and India’s 2007 World Twenty20 win, England has fallen behind.
Cricket in England suffers from two major ailments – falling participation numbers and shrinking grounds at amateur level and being an elitist sports at professional level (Moeen Ali is a welcome exception to this trend).
The game in England has been propped up – as of now – by deals with Sky and BCCI. In the long term both of these are unpredictable relationships carry huge risks for the game in England. The BCCI’s special relationship with England will continue only as long as cricket is successful and that so far has depended on Sky’s deal secured on back of a successful home Ashes in 2005
So what are the current risks and issues with Sky deal?
The main issue is no live telecast of cricket on free-to-air TV. Cricket is a summer sport in the UK but the major summer sport is football. I believe Sky is using the football subscription money to fund cricket, but this means there is no cheaper cricket channel available.
Another issue is that due to the current format of all Twenty20 matches being held on weekdays, there is no live coverage of several matches even for paid subscribers. This arrangement is meant to increase the spectator revenue in the match venues but totally ignores the TV viewer revenues, which is the driver for commercially successful leagues in India and Australia.
Clearly something has to change going forward.
First of all the TV rights for commercial Twenty20 league needs to be separated from rest of the Sky deal, and separate bids should be invited. If successful this will have the major advantage of providing a steady stream of revenues to ECB and counties in addition to the currently unpredictable Sky and BCCI relationships.
Secondly, all the major and minor counties who collectively constitute the English and Welsh cricket board (ECB) have to agree to the new tournament format and the compensation needs to be worked out. These are not insurmountable challenges and can be achieved with some creativity and vision.
For example, in the new city-based franchisee model, the bidders can be asked to tie-up with one or more counties for access to venues. As some others have pointed out there is also a possibility of cross-promotion between footy clubs and new franchises and counties. This can help someway towards upgrading venues and offsetting bidding costs for international matches.
Also, counties can provide non-objection certificates (NOCs) to release players to franchises and can receive a cut from their salaries (like what happens today in IPL). There can also be a catchment area defined for cities, and franchises can be asked to draft a minimum number of players from the major and minor counties in the catchment area.
Then there is the logistics of when and where to arrange the new competition. If it clashes with the existing English Test season then Sky might not like another cricket channel competing with them at the same time. Maybe a totally out of the box solution like having a three-week christmas daytime competition could be an answer.
I think it is only inevitable that the county managements will eventually embrace the change and the only thing that might prolong this outcome could be the fans’ attachment to existing counties. As an outsider I have no attachments to existing counties and I struggle to understand why Manchester is part of Lancashire County or why Sheffield, which founded Yorkshire county, is no more on the cricket map.
To complicate the emotions further, Wales, a separate state with its own language and culture, has only one major county (Cardiff based Glamorgan). They may have to bid jointly with nearby English counties, which could create lots of confusion for the fans.
As a disinterested person, the fun is in imagining the possible permutations and combinations of cities-counties that might bid for such a Twenty20 league.
With no prior knowledge of the UK’s geography and market I used Google and Wikipedia extensively to find out the major regions in the UK, the major and minor counties that belong to each region, the Test match venues by cricketing counties and the major urban areas by population air-traffic and trends.
Based on all this I have proposed a mapping of existing counties to new probable city based franchises and the cricketing venues.
I think the top four would be London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, which pick themselves. It is debatable if London should have second venue. Maybe later but not in the beginning?
Among the rest looking at geography and cricketing pedigree I think Nottingham-Derby and Cardiff-Bristol pick themselves. If we have bids for three more teams then Newcastle, Southampton and one more London team might get a look in.
The final probable franchise list
1) North London at Lords (Middlesex, Essex, and all minor East England counties)
2) Manchester at Old Trafford (Lancashire, and all minor NorthWest counties)
3) Birmingham at Edgbaston (Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and all minor West Midland counties)
4) Nottingham at Trentbridge (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and all minor East Midland counties)
5) Leeds at Headingley (Yorkshire, and all minor Greater Yorkshire counties)
6) Cardiff-Bristol at SWALEC (Wales, Gloucestershire, Somerset, and all minor Welsh and South West counties)
7) Newcastle-Sunderland at Riverside (Durham, and all minor North East counties)
8) Southampton at Rose Bowl (Hampshire, Sussex and all minor South England counties)
9) South London at the Oval (Surrey, Kent, and all minor South England counties)
Bakkies
Guest
I don't think they will. 2 months is too much and you already see waning crowds as the comp goes on. Test Cricket is the main priority. England struggle at ODI and T20 but they are prepared to for the sake of protecting test cricket rather than shift the focus. They have gone back to 50 over domestic games which is a good thing as 40 overs is insufficient and doesn't mirror the International game.
Bakkies
Guest
There are enough televised T20 games and as far as I can recall the counties are split in to north and south providing enough fixtures. The Finals days already offer back to back televised matches. County Cricketers in England have plenty of fixtures as it is and a good blend as well. It's also vital for Australia to have England keep the status quo so Aussie players can do stints over there in the off season. There isn't enough First Class Cricket in Australia and to have a Shield season break during the test series may come back to bite CA. You need match fit back up players to supplement the test squad not blokes who have been playing T20. County Championship is still the pinnacle, rightfully so and T20 helps counties with funding that. They also have dev squads, second XIs, club leagues. How do the Counties benefit financially from a plastic city based set up? There are 18 First Class counties and that won't change. England is also a lot more traditional about its sporting teams in the top sports.
Craig Watson
Guest
Arthur any system that prevents the Shield from being cut in half I am for. Playing continuous cricket from October to April also appeals to me as I am a cricket nuffie. Can not get enough. In fact since I retired watching our national game is my national past time. Evey year the BBL comes around and we get a match every evening. Only good thing about it. I know having two imports per franchise is the norm these days and that is one reason reason why it is very popular. But do you not think that perhaps limiting each franchise to one import might just give some of our younger, brightest prospects more of a foot in the door. There is a lot of talent 18-22 out there that are not getting any exposure. The lucky ones might get a PM X1 match or a CA invitational, but the majority have to ply their trade in grade cricket or Futures League.This tier between grade and shield cricket is another area that has to be looked at and improved on. At the moment there are only four FL fixtures a year. Hardly enough to get under 23 players the experience and exposure they need to take the next step to FC level.
marees
Roar Rookie
I got the same feedback from reddit user also, that fans along south&east are more passionate and will lose out on a move towards having T20 based on larger test match venues This is what I had to say there "... my main point in rationalising the T20 Market in UK is a valid one. Instead of dividing by 8 major regions we can classify based on zones NORTH Durham/NewCastle, Leeds/Yorkshire, Manchester/Lancashire, Birmingham/MidWest, Nottingham/MidEast CENTRE London North (Lords) London East (Essex / Kent) London South (Oval) Outer London (Berkshire / Buckinghamshire etc) SOUTH Sussex (South East ) Hampshire (South) Somerset/Devon (South West) Gloucestershire (West) Wales Teams could play within zones first and followed by a Super6? At a minimum all matches should be televised and should not have scheduling clash (atleast within zone) and should be marketed better to get more TV audience, including tie-ups with Local Premier league clubs if necessary" The whole thing can be done and dusted in 4-weeks with all matches televised. First 3 matches, the sides play home & away within zone. 3 simulaneous matches a day (1 per zone). for 3 weeks. can be shown on 3 different channels, even 3 different TV bides by zone 4th week, 2 matches a day of super six matches all shown in 1 cricket channel. needs co-operation from weather for 2 back-to-back matches in same day followed by a grand final between the best 2 sides That should please both the traditionalists and the modernists I hope. Where there is a will, there should be a way!
marees
Roar Rookie
Yes pitches create the right setting. I prefer bouncy pitches with long straight boundaries, which makes hitting six a matter of skill and not by using a heavy bat. There are problems with 6-month long competition from TV point of view. It might work for a primary sport like football in England, but cricket window needs to be short and sweet to engage the maximum TV audience. My personal preference is that Eng & counties should build a 4-week window for Franchise T20 around the same time as Champions League T20 takes place between IND-AUS-SA. This is because, the ICC itself has made available a window in International calendar for CLT-20 and not all sides qualify for it - and hence not all players play and the rest can be made available for an Eng Champions League cricket to be played around the same time. Big variable in UK is the weather I am given to understand. The logistics would be challenging, but they must give it a sincere try and make this a commercial success
art pagonis
Guest
The biggest show in Australian Domestic Cricket is the Big Bash League…right? The biggest show in India is the IPL. Tick that one! One Freddie Flintoff tonight complimented Cricket Australia for running the BBL at Xmas for the months of December and January. The IPL also runs over 2 and a bit months just as the Southern Hemisphere season is getting underway. No other T20 League in the world draws like these two. Why? Running T20 Leagues as if they were 2 month long Tournaments seems to touch a chord with Indian and Australian audiences. It’s a Festival of Thwackkk, a Celebration of Clout! It’s concentrated, it has finals, it crowns a winner….all in 10 weeks or so. One could sense the excitement in Freddie’s voice. He wants England to do the same thing. I’m sure the West Indies can continue to run a T20 League. Safrica, New Zealand, Pakistan, England, Bangers, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe…all other nations CAN run a T20 League. The question of imported players and money and broadcast rights and spectator interest then have to be negotiated. The question of Northern Hemisphere or Southern hemisphere comes into play. Summer falls at opposite times of the year. Australians and Indians always have thrived on classy Imports. Their presence seems to lift the League immensely. World Cricket, via the ICC, shifts heaven and earth to ensure that the IPL comes first…because the ICC and 4-5 nations benefit financially. The BBL interferes with the Sheffield Shield. Players have to re-focus after the entire competition stops for almost 2 months of thwackkk and clout. I have always maintained that 8 franchises playing T20 (BBL), 40 over (Matador) and 2-4 day games (Sheffield Shield), with Friday and Saturday day/nights set aside for T20 and 40 over games, will offer continuous cricket action from October to April. CA want the Matador in October and the BBL in December-January. The Matador people get barely a month of exposure. The Big Bash affords Ten/Fairfax and all the Sponsors just 2 months of exposure. My way, the Matador, BBL, the Ten Network and Fairfax get 6 months of exposure, and there is no stopping the Sheffield Shield, which also gets 6 months of exposure ( and possibly some actual TV coverage with a 3rd network). Nine gets its’ International Programme of about 30 days of cricket and so do the sponsors. Everyone goes away happy. The key is the Imports. If you have 8 franchises playing 3 forms, will Imports stick with you for 6 months including finals in 3 forms of the game, and do we need them to??? This is the big question…and one which CA might mull over, because even if 30 Aussie cricketers go to the IPL, the Sheffield Shield, the Matador and the BBL will still continue under my plan…so great is the talent in Australia, and so magnificent the wickets and grounds on which we play. I would go so far as to say that the BBL is the best League, not the greatest money-making league in the world, but the best action league BECAUSE of the quality of the wickets and grounds ALONE! They alone make Australian Cricket the best place in the world to play all forms of the game..and we can do it almost all year round….don’t you agree????? ARTHUR PAGONIS MANAGING DIRECTOR AUSTRALIA GLOBAL TRADING PTY LTD 10 HERTZ WAY, MORLEY, W.A. 6062 AUSTRALIA PH. 61.8.9377 3833, FAX 61.8.93773877, MOBILE 61. 409918874 SKYPE: apagonis2 WEB: www.ausglobaltrading.com
Bakkies
Guest
' I struggle to understand why Manchester is part of Lancashire County ' That's its historical county prior to Greater Manchester. Warwickshire are now called Birmingham Bears for T20 but often people refer to them as Warwickshire. There are more counties in England and they all have to balance their books. Take regular T20 games off them (smaller counties in particular like Derbyshire, Leics, Worcs, Somerset, etc that get no international games) they would get in the Summer the finances will be more difficult to obtain.