CSA in race to submit T20 Global League plan

CRICKET South Africa (CSA) acting chief executive Thabang Moroe has revealed that the association have until the end of March to come up with a viable concept that will save the troubled T20 Global League from going bust.

Making the announcement on Thursday‚ Moroe admitted that CSA have a tight deadline to come up with a sustainable model that will be accepted and adopted by the board to save the tournament that was launched last year with much fanfare.

“I don’t think we have enough time to pull it off‚” Moroe said.

“We have just come out of a members’ council meeting in Durban where we presented what we thought the model of the league should be and they were not happy with what we brought to the table.

“They felt that we must start a task team where we have a few members’ CEOs to work with us and come up with what they believe could work. We will have our first sit-down next Monday and the board has given us a deadline of the March 31.

“By then we should have a model and we should know as far as financial figures of what we are looking at. We have a tight deadline but we have to deal with what has been put on the table.” Between now and the end of March‚ the task team must also reach an agreement with a broadcast partner‚ something that former chief executive Haroon Lorgat failed to do‚ which will help them to find sponsors for the tournament.

“One of the targets that have been set is that we must set and agree on a figure as far as the broadcast rights are concerned‚” Moroe said.

“You agree on a number and then sit down to iron out how much will go into production and how much will go into the league‚ and so on.

“Securing a broadcaster will make it easier for us to secure a sponsor.

“I have been communicating with the broadcaster and a few corporate companies and we have a few people waiting in line.”

Moroe said CSA sent a delegation to Australia to study how that country managed to establish their Big Bash and the association will be sending another delegation to the Indian Premier League (IPL) and to England.

“The guys came back to give us feedback in terms of what they learned and what they think could work for us‚” he said.

“The same relationship has been established with India and I will be taking a team there where they will be working on the IPL and learning on what it takes to deliver a tournament of that magnitude.’’—