Cricket bosses’ R342m no-ball

Embattled Cricket South Africa (CSA) will suffer a frightening R342million net loss just to ensure its new T20 Global League goes ahead next month. Acting chief executive Thabang Moroe – installed after Haroon Lorgat quit last week – looked weary after revealing this startling figure yesterday as fears grow over the long-term viability of the tournament.

To put that into perspective, it’s more than half of CSA’s R655 million cash reserves, as per their annual report.

With Lorgat’s alleged inflexible negotiation tactics with broadcasters leading to no TV rights being in place, it’s also expected that this income stream will be significantly less than previously budgeted. “The numbers have changed over the past six months, but not as drastically as has been reported,” said Moroe.

“Initially, we were looking at a total net revenue of R32 million coming from TV rights and central sponsorship streams. At the moment, it will be in the 20s. We have cut down but it’s not going to let the quality of the tournament wane.”

CSA needs at least R247 million from the whole broadcasting rights pool to keep the tournament afloat.

Owners of the franchises will also be affected as some of the bigger teams, based in Gauteng and Cape Town, can expect to make a loss of about R21 million.

In fact, they’re only projected to break even by the third year.

CSA will also “absorb” some of the losses that will be made by their local members, who have to host the private franchises.