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[Cricket] Sky bids £40m for rights to city-based domestic Twenty20 tournament



Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
55,575
Back in Sussex
Sky has offered to pay around £40m a year in broadcasting rights for a Twenty20 tournament with teams billed as cities rather than counties when the new format gets under way in 2017.

- 8 cities competing (not counties)
- Money to sign big names IPL style
- Matches played in s 3-4 week mid-Summer block
- County Championship cut to 12 matches to accommodate new competition

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jul/25/sky-ecb-twenty20-cricket-colin-graves
 


Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,323
Uffern
This was tried a few years ago and was soundly rejected: can't see many counties going for this. There was a fans survey on whether the CC should be cut for more T20 and that wasn't too popular an idea either.

There's also considerable disquiet at the moment that there's no free-to-air cricket right now, something affecting take-up of the game.

It works in India and Australia because the big cities neatly fall into states but our big cities don't: would people from Sheffield support a team from Leeds? People from Liverpool support a team from Manchester? And what of Birmingham, which already has a cricket team - what happens to them?
 


crodonilson

He/Him
Jan 17, 2005
13,487
Lyme Regis
Sky has offered to pay around £40m a year in broadcasting rights for a Twenty20 tournament with teams billed as cities rather than counties when the new format gets under way in 2017.

- 8 cities competing (not counties)
- Money to sign big names IPL style
- Matches played in s 3-4 week mid-Summer block
- County Championship cut to 12 matches to accommodate new competition

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jul/25/sky-ecb-twenty20-cricket-colin-graves

So I guess there would be:

London Lightning
London Lions
Birmingham Bears
Manchester Mutiny
Leeds Lynx
Cardiff Cobras
Newcastle Nurse Sharks
Southampton Sailors

???

Possibly Trent Bridge being the only teast match ground to miss out?? Or maybe swap Cardiff for Nottingham?
 
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Titanic

Super Moderator
Helpful Moderator
Jul 5, 2003
39,025
West Sussex
...It works in India and Australia because the big cities neatly fall into states but our big cities don't: would people from Sheffield support a team from Leeds? People from Liverpool support a team from Manchester? And what of Birmingham, which already has a cricket team - what happens to them?

or people from Sussex 'supporting' the South Coast Sloggers in Southampton?
 


surrey jim

Not in Surrey
Aug 2, 2005
18,085
Bevendean
This was tried a few years ago and was soundly rejected: can't see many counties going for this. There was a fans survey on whether the CC should be cut for more T20 and that wasn't too popular an idea either.

There's also considerable disquiet at the moment that there's no free-to-air cricket right now, something affecting take-up of the game.

It works in India and Australia because the big cities neatly fall into states but our big cities don't: would people from Sheffield support a team from Leeds? People from Liverpool support a team from Manchester? And what of Birmingham, which already has a cricket team - what happens to them?

Warwickshire changed their name to Birmingham for 20-20. Assume they would remain playing as Birmingham if this comes to fruition.
 




Horton's halftime iceberg

Blooming Marvellous
Jan 9, 2005
16,484
Brighton
Not for me, and very bad for clubs like Sussex who can actually sell out 20 20 games, perhaps if they offer a ridiculous yearly parachute payment of £5 million a year to not be involved. \

More money for the big clubs and agents
 


Hotchilidog

Well-known member
Jan 24, 2009
8,645
Sussex have already said they'll be fighting this but I can see this happening as the decision makers are all short sighted goons.
 


Iggle Piggle

Well-known member
Sep 3, 2010
5,281
And what of Birmingham, which already has a cricket team - what happens to them?

As someone who lives in Warwickshire I refuse to watch a team named 'Birmingham' and never have done since the name change. I can't be alone in this view which I'm sure is based on Football tribalism.

If I ever go the T-20 it's at Trent Bridge who have done a great job of making it a good night out on a Friday.
 




Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,323
Uffern
Warwickshire changed their name to Birmingham for 20-20. Assume they would remain playing as Birmingham if this comes to fruition.

That's what I mean. The Sky proposal is not based around counties so there'd be something like the Birmingham Barons playing in one competition and the Birmingham Bears playing in another - Warwickshire would be very unhappy about it
 




Elvis

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2010
1,413
Viva Las Hove
Not content with F###ing up Football...............
 




edna krabappel

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jul 7, 2003
47,228
So I guess there would be:

London Lightning
London Lions
Birmingham Bears
Manchester Mutiny
Leeds Lynx
Cardiff Cobras
Newcastle Nurse Sharks
Southampton Sailors

???

Possibly Trent Bridge being the only teast match ground to miss out?? Or maybe swap Cardiff for Nottingham?



Where's the cricket ground in Newcastle upon Tyne then? ???
 


Eeyore

Lord Donkey of Queen's Park
NSC Patreon
Apr 5, 2014
23,379
It was inevitable, but ultimately it won't work in the way they hope it will. And county cricket is being savaged because of it.
 


Braggfan

In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded
May 12, 2014
1,815
Bearing in mind that a large part of county teams income is based around T20, I would imagine decreasing the number of t20 teams will signifcantly hit the counties that aren't particpating or are sharing a franchise with another county. Some teams will signifcanlty benefit from this while others could go out of buisness. Any new T20 arrangement must look at helping all teams not just a select few, whilst preserving the other formats.
 








mona

The Glory Game
Jul 9, 2003
5,470
High up on the South Downs.
Bearing in mind that a large part of county teams income is based around T20, I would imagine decreasing the number of t20 teams will signifcantly hit the counties that aren't particpating or are sharing a franchise with another county. Some teams will signifcanlty benefit from this while others could go out of buisness. Any new T20 arrangement must look at helping all teams not just a select few, whilst preserving the other formats.

The plan is to smash up county cricket.
 






edna krabappel

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jul 7, 2003
47,228
It's in Jesmond where Northumberland CCC play out of. Quite a nice little ground.

Righto. Bit of a slap in the face for Durham CCC if they were to base a team in Newcastle then.
 





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