CSA announces new T20 tournament in place of the T20 Global League

[hadi123]

Cricket South Africa (“CSA”) and SuperSport are teaming up to deliver a world-class T20 competition to a South African and global audience.

The two parties today announced a ground-breaking agreement in terms of which a new company (“Newco”) will be formed, in which both CSA and SuperSport will be shareholders. CSA will hold the majority share. Both shareholders will contribute capital to fund the Newco. SuperSport will broadcast the competition throughout sub- Saharan Africa and the adjacent islands and provide a broadcast feed to international broadcasters.

The inaugural event will be played during November and December 2018.

Commenting on the agreement, Acting CEO of CSA, Thabang Moroe, said: “CSA is delighted to announce this equity partnership with our long-term broadcast partners, SuperSport. We have put the problems we experienced with the proposed Global T20 League behind us and look forward to hosting the new competition (which will be named later). This event will create wonderful opportunities for local players (including current Proteas and up and coming youngsters) to hone their white-ball skills.”

While not providing specific figures, Moroe labelled the deal as “the biggest in the history of South African domestic cricket, which will ensure the welfare of the game in South Africa.”

Gideon Khobane, CEO of SuperSport, also expressed his delight. “CSA has been an outstanding partner of SuperSport’s for many years. This agreement sees our relationship taken to the next level, where we will pool our mutual resources in a partnership which will create high-quality cricket and provide entertaining content for cricket fans locally and broadcast viewers both domestically and globally. To have Proteas and international stars competing together with local talent will improve the quality of T20 cricket produced by South Africa.”

Further details will be made available in due course.

 

[hadi123]

“The announcement of a new T20 competition is positive news and will be widely welcomed by the players,” said SACA chief executive, Tony Irish. “The fact that a broadcast deal has already been secured through arrangements with Supersport to take this event to fans in South Africa and globally, is further good news. Although we are not yet privy to the details of the deal or exactly how the competition is to be structured, it is hoped that the upfront involvement of Supersport will ensure its sustainability and promote its visibility.”

“We believe that it is critical for South Africa, as one of the world’s leading cricket countries, to have its own world class T20 competition and that this is as attractive to players as some of the existing T20 leagues in other countries. Players and their performances will be at the heart of the success of the competition.”

“There is an enormous amount of work that will need to be done between now and the start date in November. SACA looks forward to engaging with CSA and Newco as soon as possible on all the details relating to the players,” concluded Irish.

 

[Hedz]

If it takes off i will be happy for South Africa cricket
Was definitely disappointed when the global t20 failed to take off last year

 

[USofA]

Ok, take two. Let's see where this goes.

By the way are there any other T20 leagues ongoing in Nov./Dec.? Have we now successfully filled all 12 months with T20 leagues?

 

[Arham_PakFan]

Ok, take two. Let's see where this goes.

By the way are there any other T20 leagues ongoing in Nov./Dec.? Have we now successfully filled all 12 months with T20 leagues?

Bangladesh Premier League and T10 league

 

[Abdullah719]

CRICKET SOUTH AFRICA PLANNING TO LEAVE INDIAN OWNERS OUT FROM YET-TO-BE-NAMED T20 TOURNAMENT?

The proposed Twenty20 League in South Africa may run into trouble, after all. Cricket South Africa (CSA) is reportedly panning to leave out the Indian owners from the yet-tobe named tournament and the proposed move has not amused the affected parties. They are planning legal action.

Mirror has contacted four of the five ‘Indian’ franchises of the-now defunct Twenty20 Global League, and three of them said they have not had any information over the new venture. The tournament is proposed to be held in November-December.

Kiran Kumar Grandhi, who was owning the Jo’burg Giants franchise, told Mirror that he has not had any information nor has he received the refundable deposit of $250,000. “I’ve only heard about it but not had any official information. I will check,” the co-owner of Delhi Daredevils said.

Ajay Sethi, who had purchased the Port Elizabeth franchise, said that he is also waiting to hear from CSA. “We’ve read that CSA has tied up with SuperSport which is a good development. I welcome it. Last year, the league did not take place because there was no broadcaster. I am yet to hear from them officially,” Sethi said. “I’m waiting.”

Another owner, who had shown a keen interest in the T20 Global League, categorically refused to speak about his future plans, but another said legal recourse is an option. “We’ll see what are the options before us,” he said.

There were five Indian owners, besides two from Pakistan, in the aborted tournament, which had taken the scalp of CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat for the botched-up attempt.

When contacted, CSA president Chris Nenzani said it is not the right time for him to comment. “At this state, I am unable to discuss this matter until we have attended all relevant and pertinent issues,” he said.

While announcing the league, CSA acting CEO Thabang Moroe said, “CSA is delighted to announce this equity partnership with our long-term broadcast partners, SuperSport. The two parties announced a ground-breaking agreement in terms of which a new company (Newco) will be formed, in which both CSA and SuperSport will be shareholders. CSA will hold the majority share.”

https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/s...ers-fume-at-csa-snub/articleshow/64526341.cms

 

[Abdullah719]

Media Release – Bloem City Blazers -

“Our commitment to the T20 Global League extends beyond cricket in Bloemfontein and the Free State. It encompasses development at grassroots and school level, transformation through performance and in effect puts Bloemfontein and the Free State on the world cricketing map”

The above was a part of the statement released by us on 10th October 2017 when the postponement of the T20 Global League was announced.

It has been a roller coaster ride with Cricket South Africa ever since. The lack of a proper response from CSA prompted the undersigned to make two visits to meet with CSA officials. The first visit was on the 24th of February during the T20I between South Africa and India at Newlands where the sense of feeling was that the Board members were being fed false information with regards to the owners’ intentions going forward and the Board were informed that all owners wanted out, thus, the model of private ownership was off the table. This was not true, and the undersigned reiterated the owners were committed to the Global League T20 and a week later it was announced that Cricket South Africa will open discussions with all team owners to renegotiate revised financial and operational terms. This reiterates Mr Ajay Sethi’s statement, owners of the Nelson Mandela Stars, dated 26 June 2018 that certain individuals had their own agendas and tried to manipulate the process.

During our latest visit in May 2018 to meet with CSA officials to sort out any clarifications they needed with regard to our deposits and the expenses, an email prior to my arrival was sent to the Executive office seeking an audience which went un-responded. No one from CSA’s Executive Office was ready to meet or have the courtesy to speak with us and it was quite an embarrassment for us to keep pushing CSA just for an audience having travelled all the way from our home country, just to resolve issues which were never caused by us.

However, the intentions became clear when the announcement of the new league and new partnership with Supersport was announced in the Media. The writing was on the wall that the present owners had no place in the newly announced league. This was evident in the fact that the last form of discussion with CSA and all owners was a teleconference meeting on March 13th where it was decided by all parties that CSA would go back to Supersport to discuss; i) a proposal from Supersport on the original model, ii) Supersport should suggest an alternate model if not in favor of the original model or iii) look at a league co-owned between CSA, owners and the broadcaster. CSA then went behind the owners back and struck a deal with Supersport excluding the current owners and without providing any information on the above said deal. It was rather disappointing and very unprofessional that no one at CSA had the decency to contact us first and make us aware of the decision that was taken.

We are absolutely disgruntled at the way CSA had handled (or mishandled) its affairs with regard to the T20 Global League. The undersigned also led a delegation with their Director of Cricket, Robin Singh on the invitation from the Consul General of South Africa in Hong Kong and Macau. During this meeting, we expressed our disappointment to the Hon’able Consul General Mr. Ntshinga and Vice Consul Mr. Naidoo. We requested the Consulate to take up the issue with the Ministry of Sport in South Africa. Vested interests and personality clashes within the management of CSA is only affecting the reputation of the Board. We will be actively following up through the Ministry of Sport and looking forward to an early resolve to this matter. We at Bloem City Blazers want to see the league up and running with the present interested owners.

We are also disappointed at the fact that Bloemfontein was our first choice city and we had foreseen and planned a 12 month and a 10 year calendar for development of cricket at the grassroots level. We had also forged a fantastic relationship with the Free State Cricket Officials and together made some serious advancements in getting things off the ground. We hope that all the hard work done by all of us during the last year should not go down the drain.

Kind regards,

Sushil Kumar K C

Chairman - City Sports Ltd

 

[MenInG]

Friday, August 24, 2018

CRICKET SOUTH AFRICA (CSA) today provided an update to all its stakeholders on activities around its proposed T20 League to provide perspective and context on the work done thus far.

“There have been understandable concerns expressed in the Media,” commented CSA Chief Executive Thabang Moroe, “and it is important that we address these concerns and bring all our stakeholders, who include the Media, our loyal fans, commercial partners, CSA Members, government and public at large, on board.

“We have also briefed Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) and we were able to assure SRSA that CSA remains focused on its core business of being the custodian of all cricket activities which ultimately advance amateur and professional cricket in South Africa. In turn, they responded very positively to our strong financial position, stability and performance and our commitment to good corporate governance and transformation.

“CSA prides itself in the standards of governance we have applied over the past few years and will continue to maintain those standards,” added Mr. Moroe.



“It is important to highlight that CSA is a profitable sporting federation and that much as we believe in the product, we do not have to host a T20 league to assure financial sustainability. The game of cricket in SA is in a healthy state as demonstrated by the growth in cricket development at grass roots level, a healthy pipeline of young future talent as well as women cricket that have progressed with leaps and bounds. A recent sponsors event again confirmed the satisfaction of some of our major stakeholders.”

The Ministry of Sport and Recreation, led by the Hon Minister, Tokozile Xasa, welcomed the report from CSA that was presented to her department by the CSA executive.

"We welcome the brief we received from CSA, and we believe that they have shown good governance in the manner they run the federation and transformation is in the centre of cricket. Cricket remains our flagship federation that continue to be inclusive of all our people." Minister Xasa said.

New T20 LEAGUE UPDATE

Given the difficult market conditions where there is a clear indication that particularly sport sponsorships and broadcast revenue, traditional key revenue streams for sporting federations, are increasingly becoming under pressure, it is important that new revenue streams be pursued. CSA has carefully looked at how it can enrich and enhance its products for the SA cricket enthusiast.

There is regular debate in cricketing circles on whether the T20 format of the game is making inroads at the expense of the traditional five-day game. With this in mind and the success of the shortened format globally, the Board and members of CSA remains of the opinion that a New T20 League event can be successfully launched in South Africa.

In our assessment of these and other global events, it became apparent that these events take quite some time to become cash generative and certain similar leagues internationally only became cash neutral after 4-7yrs.

CSA, therefore, started to explore and implement such a league in 2017. We were well aware of the upfront investment required and through financial discipline over the past five years built up reserves supported by a cash injection when the Champions League was terminated, to be able to enter the T20 space.

The 2017 anticipated model was one of privately owned teams but with a major reliance on broadcast revenue. Unfortunately, broadcast rights could not be secured in time and the absence of broadcast right has a direct impact on sponsorship potential. The principle we still cling to is that we will rather disappoint with postponement than to launch a tournament that may not be sustainable. Thus, our endeavor to launch a polished product, within our means of course, that will be responsive to the needs of our identified market.

Further, CSA believes that we should continue to pursue opportunities to launch such a tournament but wish to emphasize that we will not put the well-being of the game at risk if we are not comfortable that we can launch and host such an event successfully. CSA will shortly announce its annual financial position and will in there confirm that we currently still hold substantial reserves, despite the T20 losses in 2017. PWC recently completed a full audit of the financial affairs of CSA.

The Board and Members decided early in 2018 to continue to explore the possibility to launch a league in the current year. A league of this nature over a six-week period is exciting: it coincides with the SA summer holidays and is a great fan-based event. We still believe we should add this to our cricket calendar.

The model that is under consideration for 2018 is one of starting from a clean slate and somewhat toned down from 2017. We still believe that stakeholders that expressed the wish to be involved in 2017 should be part of the future of this league. However, if the event is done on a smaller scale to start with some of the initial thinking in 2017 might only be phased in over time.

On the back of the above-mentioned decision, CSA received offers from 4 prospective investors. The Board considered the options and decided to enter into negotiations with a possible investor that was South African based. Although decisions need to be commercially founded, the realities of SA call for a much wider involvement than only financial investment. It is against this background it was felt that a SA equity partner would add to the SA flavour of the event. Unfortunately, after two months of negotiations it became clear over the past week that certain terms of such an arrangement cannot be agreed upon. However, negotiations continue with SuperSport on the broadcast deal.

CSA, in its deliberations with other stakeholders, has not made available to those interested parties the equity stake that was earmarked for the SA entity. An equity investment is not a pre-requisite to host such the event. However, it can indeed contribute to enhancing an initial event.

The CEO of CSA and the executive management team continue to pursue every possible opportunity to launch the league in the current year.

The Board of CSA is very aware of time pressures to ensure a successful hosting and has therefore mandated the executive to pursue opportunities with a definite date by no later than middle of September to present a final outcome. Very strict financial disciplines are in place to ensure that any effort to reach such finality will not cause financial pressure on CSA

CSA believes that this can become a global sport event on the national calendar. However, the desire to host such event cannot be considered at all cost. In this regard the CSA approach to cautious optimism might not be a popular approach. As a responsible governing body, CSA must ensure that an aspirational event is not to the detriment of the bulk of many cricketing activities that currently serve players and supporters.

CSA appreciates the support of many passionate cricketing stakeholders and will continue to engage with interested parties in its endeavours to find the optimal model to host such an event successfully and something all South Africans will be proud of.

 

[MenInG]

THE Members Council of Cricket South Africa (CSA) voted unanimously in favour of launching CSA’s new T20 League competition at a special meeting in Johannesburg today.

The commercial and related detail is currently being finalised and will be released shortly as will the cricket specific matters including the hosting venues and the fixtures. As announced previously, the League will be contested by 6 teams, playing a total of 30 home and away matches followed by one eliminator match and the grand final.

The tournament will run from November 9 to December 16.

“Chief Executive Thabang Moroe and his management team have come with a commercial model that is both financially viable and offers promise for an exciting and long-term future that meets all the conditions laid down by the CSA Board of Directors,” commented CSA President and chairman of the Board, Chris Nenzani.

“The Board had no hesitation in recommending this model to the Members Council,” he concluded.

 

[Hedz]

Chances if a successful league being showcased seems really slim, unless they continue with the same franchises and squads (with a few changes) as last year
Doubt they can get it all together in 2 months

 

[Arham_PakFan]

They should have continued with the pre-existing franchises.

 

[Abdullah719]

CSA ANNOUNCES HOST VENUES FOR T20 LEAGUE

Thursday, 11 October 2018

CRICKET SOUTH AFRICA (CSA) today announced the selected venues to host the six T20 League teams following the successful completion of the independent assessment process. This was carried out by Nielsen Sport who are acknowledged experts in this particular field of expertise.

The selected venues are (in no order of significance): Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, SuperSport Park, Kingsmead, St. George’s Park, PPC Newlands and Eurolux Boland Park.

“The key mandate given to all our Members in applying to be a host venue was the primary goal of luring new and traditional fans, other sports fans and the wider general public to our stadia,” commented CSA Chief Executive Thabang Moroe. “This process was, in fact, started some time ago when CSA embarked on a National Stadium Grading Process of all our first-class venues.

“The buzz phrase for the independent assessment was the ‘Fan Journey’ which starts with the fans’ arrival at the stadium and includes the full package of transport options both to and from the stadium and traffic management, ease of access, safety and security arrangements, catering, and interaction activities and opportunities specific to the fan experience.

“From our observations of other T20 Leagues around the world and competitions in other sporting codes it has become clear that the fan experience is all important.

“Our research has shown us that the match day experience is enhanced by fans ‘leaving their seats’, either to engage with other fans in different areas of the stadium, to partake in various sponsor and event activations or to cheer and support their favourite team/player.

“We have every confidence that the plans our Members have come up will enhance these expectations for the T20 League,” concluded Mr. Moroe.

 

[MenInG]

Former Cricket South Africa (CSA) CEO Haroon Lorgat said he was “really disappointed” to see the T20 Global League collapse and called for an “independent inquiry” to unearth the reasons behind its abandonment three years ago.

The T20 Global League comprising eight teams was scheduled to be held in South Africa from November 2017 but was deferred by a year due to lack of a broadcast deal and title sponsor.

In June 2018, the event was replaced by Mzansi Super League, a competition featuring six CSA-owned teams.

“I could not believe what I was hearing when I received the news that the T20 Global League was postponed or cancelled,” Lorgat, who had stepped down in September 2017, was quoted as saying by ‘Times Live’.

“It was such a good thing for cricket in SA and it left me with a feeling of real disappointment.”

Lorgat had “mutually agreed to part ways” with CSA “because of a “breakdown” in their relationship, mainly due to the handling of the T20 Global League.

There were allegations that Lorgat had undermined the board by withholding critical financial information related to the league.

Lorgat denied the accusations of financial misinformation and said he had always kept the members informed. “There’s documentary evidence to that effect. Mr Moroe, (chairman of the GLT20 board), Mr Nenzani, Mr von Zeuner and Mr Khan all served on a sub-committee into which I reported regularly,” said the 60-year-old, who also served as ICC CEO between 2008 and 2012.

“As for the T20 Global League, I would be pleased to see an independent inquiry,” said Lorgat.

Three months after Lorgat’s departure, CSA board chairperson and president Chris Nenzani had come up with a statement saying that no financial irregularities were found.

“A complete reconciliation of the total expenditure incurred on the T20GL has been concluded and we can now confirm that all monies have been adequately accounted for and that we have found no irregularities or financial mismanagement,” Nenzani had said in the statement.

https://sportstar.thehindu.com/cric...llapsed-t20-global-league/article32181665.ece