CSA batting for World Cup
Cricket South Africa wants host the Cricket World Cup.
But first they need to convince the other full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to extend the Future Tours Programme (FTP).
The current FTP concludes in 2023 but SA wants it to be extended to 2027-28 so that they can bid for ICC events‚ in particular the World Cup.
It’s with this jewel in the crown they hope to renegotiate their next broadcast deal.
“We have most‚ if not all of our broadcast deals ending this year – the 2019-20 season.
“We will be sitting down with all our broadcasters to renegotiate‚” said CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe.
“The difficulty we have is that our Future Tours Programme ends in 2023. That leaves us with two years’ content to sell. It is not a lot.
“We will have a scheduling meeting at ICC level at the end of February.
“We have to make a decision‚ do we have the T20 World Cup biannually‚ or do we bring back the Champions Trophy‚ what format and how many teams?
“The other reason we want the FTP to be pushed that far back is because we want the opportunity to host some world events‚ especially the to World Cup.” With their broadcast deals coming to an end in 2020‚ there is greater urgency to get around the negotiating table.
“I received an e-mail from the CEO of SuperSport on Monday indicating we should find one day to renegotiate a new broadcast deal‚” Moroe said.
“It is no secret that SuperSport would like to have cricket in its entirety‚ exclusively.
“We need to determine what products they can share with the public broadcaster knowing the problems the public broadcaster is going through.”
What Moroe was referring to‚ in particular‚ was the Mzansi Super League (MSL) which the SABC broadcast earlier this season and will continue over the next two seasons. Moroe would like SuperSport to get involved but as with most things SABCrelated‚ it’s complicated.
“We would like to have our products on the public broadcaster but not to the point where it is to the detriment of the business‚” he said.
Moroe said the domestic T20 event would go ahead as planned but a few things needed to be ironed out.
“The CSA Slam will continue in its last year‚” he said.
“We need to decide where to host it.
“Are they willing to have it without the Proteas and even top players because the Indian Premier League [IPL] has been brought forward this year.”