Is it time to restart the T20 Champions League?

[msb314]

I feel like the initial T20 Champions League was setup to fail since T20 cricket was still in its infancy back in 2009-12.

Not only IPL has grown in brand value but PSL has also taken off along with the BPL and Big Bash.

I think it’s reasonable if the Big 3 gets four teams whilst Pakistan gets three teams and everyone else gets two teams.

I think the format should be 8 groups of 4 with the top two teams in each group progressing to the Round of 16.

Thoughts?

 

[Rana]

It’s only possible if all franchise T20 cricket runs together at the same time. Only then will you know which team is the actual champions in the champions league like in Football

 

[finalfantasy7]

I feel like the initial T20 Champions League was setup to fail since T20 cricket was still in its infancy back in 2009-12.

Not only IPL has grown in brand value but PSL has also taken off along with the BPL and Big Bash.

I think it’s reasonable if the Big 3 gets four teams whilst Pakistan gets three teams and everyone else gets two teams.

I think the format should be 8 groups of 4 with the top two teams in each group progressing to the Round of 16.

Thoughts?

it was a good idea, big concern is - when can this be added in the calendar every year, the ipl is increasing its teams and so will the psl from next year and onwards,

 

[silentkiller187]

on paper brilliant idea but logistically will be a challenge, for example if one player plays for multiple teams in the champions league who gets precedence etc

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

8 groups of 4? Do you even want to see international cricket or not?

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

on paper brilliant idea but logistically will be a challenge, for example if one player plays for multiple teams in the champions league who gets precedence etc

This is why CL looks like a joke. Big franchises can pressurise a player to play for them only. It will always be in favour of IPL and they will also have 4-6 teams in a tournament thereby making it another mini version of IPL.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

It’s only possible if all franchise T20 cricket runs together at the same time. Only then will you know which team is the actual champions in the champions league like in Football

This will never happen because of the lack of talent and number of participating countries. There is so much talent available in football whereas a league like IPL has failed to create even one match finisher for India. Who will watch these Shuklas and Pandeys for 2 months?

 

[ChTab]

CL in cricket is not going to work at all. It will fail again because most of the players play for more than 1 franchise, unlike football where in one season they play for only 1 club.

And frankly, nobody wants to see another franchise T20 league.

 

[msb314]

it was a good idea, big concern is - when can this be added in the calendar every year, the ipl is increasing its teams and so will the psl from next year and onwards,

End of November / Early December

 

[msb314]

on paper brilliant idea but logistically will be a challenge, for example if one player plays for multiple teams in the champions league who gets precedence etc

Player should chose who he wants to play for if their is a conflict.

 

[msb314]

8 groups of 4? Do you even want to see international cricket or not?

Play multiple games simultaneously and the whole tournament can be completed in 2-3 weeks

 

[msb314]

CL in cricket is not going to work at all. It will fail again because most of the players play for more than 1 franchise, unlike football where in one season they play for only 1 club.

And frankly, nobody wants to see another franchise T20 league.

The Champions League was / is not a T20 league but a tournament to determine the best T20 franchise

 

[MenInG]

Think non-starter, thanks to our friends in BCCI who will not want to give any importance to other leagues, especially PSL!

 

[Amjid Javed]

No, we dont need another circus league clogging up an already busy cricket calender.

 

[ChTab]

The Champions League was / is not a T20 league but a tournament to determine the best T20 franchise

I know what it was & it will still be a failure because most of the players play in multiple franchises.

 

[Bilal Ahmad15]

T20 Champions League Concept

I have been thinking about this for a long while now and yes, a T20 Champions League is essential. As it gives all these pyjama T20 Leagues a better purpose. There is only one winner for each league, and so the T20 champions league would now mean 2nd place, 3rd and 4th place for each T20 league are even more meaningful.

I am aware that a lot of people in PP just overall, hate T20 Franchise cricket, but the reality is T20 Franchise cricket is the future of the game, since it gives the biggest entertainment for the majority of fans, and give more money and opportunities for players. Even though I don't like it myself, T20 Franchise is essential for Crickets success, rather survival now. And ICC needs to realise this.

And so a few very important rules must be met by everyone in order for this to work;

1) Every player can only play for a maximum one Franchise in the leagues listed below. This is an essential rule. Otherwise, we will just have the problem which is the majority of players going for IPL. And now, in order to ensure that the huge chunk of players doesn't go for the IPL, there has to be a restriction on the total amount of players that can be signed by not only IPL franchises but franchises from all leagues. This is that all franchisees can only sign a maximum of 5 overseas players for their squad and a maximum of 4 overseas players can be chosen for the starting 11.

1.5) Franchises must play all their overseas players for more than 50% of the group stage/ regular matches of their respective leagues (excluding champions LEague). IF they dont do this, firstly they will lose that player (that ddnt play more than half the matches reulagr matches) as a punishment, and also as another punishment they wont be able to sign a replacement player for the next season.

2) Everyone must be able to play everyone. We can't have IPL teams refusing to play/ Tour PSL teams. But a very unrealistic ask.

Another problem to deal with is how to schedule this tournament. What I am thinking is that, just like how football has international breaks where players go to play 2 or 3 matches for the national team within two weeks, the exact same should happen for this T20 CL, where at the end of each month, we have a 'T20 Champions League Break' for two weeks. Here is a rough concept.

July
Global T20 Canada
Vitality Blast

August
International Cricket
CPL
Euro T20 Slam

Late August - Early September
T20 Champions League Break (Two Weeks)

September
International Cricket
Lankan Premier League
CPL (continuation)

Late September - Early October
T20 Champions League Break (Two Weeks)

October
International Cricket
Bangladesh Premier League

Late October - Early November
T20 Champions League Break (Two Weeks)

November
Msanzi Super League


(I hope you get the rough idea)


These Two Week T20 CL breaks are for the group stage matches, for the finals/ Knockout stage, I was thinking that either you can do the same two week period schedule, or just have a whole month dedicated for the 'T20 Champions League Finals'. But I think the two week period at the end of every month works better.

Leagues that are involved
Related to requirement (1), we need to know which leagues are involved so players can see which teams they chose to play for. Here are the Leagues that I have chosen to participate in;

Indian Premier League (India)
Big Bash League (Australia)
Caribbean Premier League (West Indies)
Pakistan Super League (Pakistan)
Bangladesh Premier League (Bangladesh)
Super Smash (New Zealand)
Lankan Premier League (Sri Lanka)
Msanzi Super League (South Africa)

Leagues like Global T20 Canada, Afghan Premier League, Euro T20 Slam are not ready yet, because they can't survive with the 'Players only play for 1 franchise rule'.

Number of Teams & Format
In my opinion, there should be 24 teams, because having 32 groups as OP suggests means that all ten IPL franchises have to play otherwise there will be too many mediocre teams... Which isn't really fair.

Here Are the 24 teams, taking the results from the latest edition of each league. For every league except Msanzi Super League, I decided that half of the total teams will qualify for the T20 CL eg for PSL, 3 out of 6 teams qualify for T20 CL;

IPL (5 Teams, based on 2021 Table):
- Chennai Super Kings
- Delhi Capitals
- Royal Challengers Bangalore
- Kolkata Knight Riders

BBL (4 Teams, based on 21/ 22 Table):
- Perth Scorchers
- Sydney Sixers
- Sydney Thunder
- Adelaide Strikers

PSL (3 Teams, based on 2021 Table):
- Multan Sultans
- Islamabad United
- Peshawar Zalmi

CPL (3 Teams, based on 2021 Table):
- St Kitts & Nevis Patriots
- Trinbago Knight Riders
- Guyana Amazon Warriors

BPL (3 Teams, based on 2021 Table + 2021 Winner no longer exists):
- Khulna Tigers
- Chattogram Challengers
- Minister Group Dhaka

SS (3 Teams, based on 21/22 Table):
- Northern Brave
- Canterbury Kings
- Wellington Firebirds

LPL (2 Teams, based on 2021 Table):
- Jaffna Kings
- Galle Gladiators

MSL (1 Team, based on 2019 Winner):
- Paarl Rocks


I have two concept ideas for the format;

1) 4 Groups of 6 teams, top two of each group qualify for the quarter-finals. This format would mean all teams get more group stage matches. I liked this format at first, but then I decided to do a group draw with the above teams, and it's a bit overwhelming, as for three out of the four groups, half the teams were big/ interesting teams, but the other three teams were average. Overall, the groups are too big

2) 6 groups of 4 teams, top two of each group qualify for round 16. The reaming four spots will be decided by 3rd place table based on points, away percentage win and NRR, very similar to how it's done in the Euros (football). I haven't done a group draw for this, but I think this format is better.


Each team will play everyone in their group home and away match.


Lastly, overall, a lot of the things I have asked for are just unrealistic, especially the player restrictions for franchisees, and players only playing for one team, as IPL likes to steal everything. So although I would love to see a T20 CL like this, It wont happen. And even with the player retircions, there just arent enough teams with good enough talent, unlike UEFA Champions Legaue weak teams, Europa league teams.

 

[Bilal Ahmad15]

End of November / Early December

We cant make the T20 champions league a one-month tournament, it has to be a longer duration, I would say a very similar duration time to the UEFA champions league. Because Tournaments I believe are just very boring if they are on a regular basis (fans prefer leagues, like EPL, NFL, NBA), which is why tournaments like FIFA WC, T20WC and ODI WC must be every four years.

Besides cricket already has a big problem since all the so-called T20 'Leagues' are not leagues, but rather meaningless exhibition tournaments.

 

[Forward Defensive Push]

Champions league if I’m not wrong was tried and failed. There’s not enough audience and cricket can’t provide the logistics for this league to survive. Sorry but it’s not happening.

 

[finalfantasy7]

End of November / Early December

Most cricketers wont want to play as their getting ready for Christmas - that time of the year is for them to relax.

2 - only the middle east at that time of year is warm enough - cant be held in 1 demographic every yr=boring

 

[hitthestump]

Impossible for 2 reasons.

1) Players playing for multiple teams

2) India would have no interest

 

[Maher96]

8 Groups of 4 is 64 team in total. No chance that this will happen. Only way to fit it in a International calendar probably is to play the CL but not allow players to play who are have been part of international cricket for the last 12 months.


Like that fringe players would get a chance, some can stage comebacks others can continue earning money.

Also than the tournament can be played by a handful of teams and may be wrap it up in a few weeks.

Also having a T10 or 100 type CL wouldn't be bad.

T20's sometimes can lack pace which for current generation is not exciting for a sport.

 

[U$ofA]

I feel like the initial T20 Champions League was setup to fail since T20 cricket was still in its infancy back in 2009-12.

Not only IPL has grown in brand value but PSL has also taken off along with the BPL and Big Bash.

I think it’s reasonable if the Big 3 gets four teams whilst Pakistan gets three teams and everyone else gets two teams.

I think the format should be 8 groups of 4 with the top two teams in each group progressing to the Round of 16.

Thoughts?

Right off the bat, any CL will have to be without any IPL team. The IPL has already indicated they have no interest in CL.

So CL will have to find a new leader who will take the mantle and run/organize the tournament. Which also means put up the $$$$ needed to not only get the CL off the ground again, but also run it to the finish line.

Who is going to do this? This aspect has to be taken care of first before even thinking of how to structure the tournament.

Unfortunately, I do not see any leaders out there. Your proposal is DOA.

 

[sweep_shot]

I am personally against this T20 Champions League. It can take up even more space from international cricket.

 

[U$ofA]

Think non-starter, thanks to our friends in BCCI who will not want to give any importance to other leagues, especially PSL!

I would say more like BCCI sinking millions of $$$$$ and incurring a loss being the primary reason for this being a non starter.

If my memory serves me right, no one else even bothered to put in a penny to run the CL. It was all IPL/BCCI bearing the cost to run the league.

Also, BCCI has already said they are no longer interested in CL. So they will not be involved anyway in any CL reboot.

 

[ARK Rafay]

T20 Franchise Cricket is not quite there yet. Mistake not this is going to happen in the future though