CSA, Saca close to pay deal
Cricket boss says T20 Global League decision soon
ACTING Cricket South Africa chief executive Thabang Moroe is confident an agreement will be reached with the South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) on their Memorandum of Understanding soon, despite the pending expiration date of the current agreement at the end of the month.
Saca have expressed the hope that the current agreement, which includes a revenue-sharing model will be extended, although Saca chief executive Tony Irish is “extremely concerned” that the matter has not been resolved with less than a fortnight remaining on the current deal.
Although CSA initially indicated last December that they wished to review the current model, there was movement from the governing body in March when they recommitted to revenue-share.
Moroe told Independent Media yesterday that CSA have proposed “some changes”, but that SACA have “accepted” them.
“I really don’t want to negotiate through the media, but it is for the players’ well-being. There are some changes but the majority will remain the same,” Monroe said.
“The current MOU leans heavily towards the men’s national team at the moment, and we have a responsibility towards all our players, including the women’s national team, the franchise players and our semi-professional players.”
Although cricket season officially ended in South Africa more than two weeks ago, Moroe has been very busy of late. Besides the Saca negotiations, Moroe recently returned from India from a string of meetings related to the Future Tours Programme and the Global T20 League and then headed straight into the CSA’s Transformation indaba in Pilanesberg last week.
Back in December, Moroe and CSA president Chris Nenzani indicated their relations with the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) were strengthening to the point that India’s players could be allowed to play in South Africa’s Global T20 League in future.
Although there has been no definitive movement on to this matter, Moroe has indicated that a decision on whether the inaugural GLT20 will take place this year after its postponement last year is fast approaching.
“We should be able to make an announcement next week on the GLT20,” Moroe said.
The major reasons for the postponement of the GLT20 last year were due to the lack of a lucrative broadcast deal and sponsorship, with Moroe indicating that CSA had been set to lose $250 million (R340m) had they gone ahead with the tournament.
It is also still not clear whether the franchises in the proposed league will be privately-owned or whether the teams will be owned by CSA.