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

[Braggfan]

The plan is to smash up county cricket.

Sadly I think you're right. It will probably be followed up with T20 joining the Olympics money spinning machine and affirming itself as "cricket". Test cricket will dwindle away to the odd match here and there

 

[Bladders]

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

The whole idea is a slap in the face to most counties

 

[beorhthelm]

i dont really understand why changing names to cities rather than counties would be of any benefit. there more identity in counties, not just confined to cricket, aside a few exceptions. or is this to create new clubs outside the existing structure so bypassing alot of the establishment?

 

[surrey jim]

Would this then follow in a 'premier league' and division structure for other cities / towns who want to enter?

 

[SwedishSonna]

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

Maybe. Or they might have a Newcastle team playing out of Durham. The ground in Jesmond isn't huge capacity wise... couldn't really host a test game.

 

[Hotchilidog]

It is a short sighted idea that exists only to make a load of cash for a small number of teams. Proper cricket is being eaten up by the T20 monster. If this deal goes ahead the games will still only be on Sky so the audience will not grow for the game, just the coffers of a few people willing sacrifice the integrity of the game as a whole.

 

[Gwylan]

or is this to create new clubs outside the existing structure so bypassing alot of the establishment?

Yes, that's the proposal. As someone says, it's to smash up the counties. The trouble is, the counties hold the bulk of the voting rights so there'd have to be big money heading their way for this to be a goer. £40m sounds a lot but a good part of that has to filter back to cricket as a whole (or no-one will vote for it) and if the teams have to be funded out of it, there's not much left over.

I suspect that the aim is to create franchises sponsored by companies but that's going to be a bold move to back something so new

 

[Notters]

What a SHIT idea.

 

[Hamilton]

Sky trying to ruin County Cricket. Nice.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

And it will weaken the England test team.
Bob Willis and the money men will be happy.
Cricket for people who don't really like the game.

Hmmm, they have already done this with football, any more sports that they can screw?

 

[loz]

I get the impression that T20 is on the wain, 5 years ago all the grounds were full, but now when I turn it on the grounds look half empty. At my Cricket club a few years ago it was all T20 talk and whens the next match and whose going, now not a murmur, a few still pop down to Hove but as likely to watch 50 over cricket as T20

I cant stand the 20 over version of Cricket myself. And even as a palace fan, Sussex is my county and who I support, to support Southampton saints or whatever would never cross my mind.

 

[Bwian]

Not content with F###ing up Football...............

Exactly!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The ground in Jesmond isn't huge capacity wise...

Does that matter? It's a TV programme, not a gathering of longstanding supporters of cricket.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I don't see how a city-based Premier T20 tournament can ever co-exist with the county structure. It's basically the first step in the creation of a Premier League of test-ground counties that will no doubt be applied to all formats of the game in time.

Although the county system IS old it does work in a number of ways. In crude terms a population of c. 55 million in England and Wales gives each county a catchment of 3 million people, which is similar to Australia, so the demographics are viable for player development and fan numbers.

I think the big missed opportunity was when the county championship was simply split into 2 divisions - I think a different structure - possible regionalised into 3 divisions of 7 sides could have brought into play the likes of Devon and Cornwall, East Anglia and the ECB might have widened their pool of players as a result. All the 2-tier structure has done is to render the likes of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Kent and Gloucestershire as obsolete in terms of producing test players for England and competing in the 4-day format.

 

[SwedishSonna]

Does that matter? It's a TV programme, not a gathering of longstanding supporters of cricket.

There's no saying how well it would be received if it was played out of Newcastle instead of Durham. Bit of a faff getting to Chester le Street. Jesmond is a lot more convenient for us Tynesiders.

 

[Simster]

I'd rather the guardians of the game came up with competitions and structures that keep it healthy, not TV companies looking for cheap summer time nonsense to fill their schedules with something other than end of football season reviews featuring various banal interviews.

The trouble is, the guardians of the game aren't really very good at it. At least, not in this country. If they were, they'd have thought of a proper strategy designed to:
a) safeguard 4 day county cricket and
b) generate money to i) ensure talented players are interested in a career in the game
and ii) provide more grass roots help to reverse the decline in playing numbers

All I know is that a city franchise system sounds like a properly shithouse idea.

 

[Marty McFly]

If they're going to rejig T20 I'd much rather an FA cup style competition, involving the counties, and other teams across the country.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I'd rather the guardians of the game came up with competitions and structures that keep it healthy, not TV companies looking for cheap summer time nonsense to fill their schedules with something other than end of football season reviews featuring various banal interviews.

The trouble is, the guardians of the game aren't really very good at it. At least, not in this country. If they were, they'd have thought of a proper strategy designed to:
a) safeguard 4 day county cricket and
b) generate money to i) ensure talented players are interested in a career in the game
and ii) provide more grass roots help to reverse the decline in playing numbers

All I know is that a city franchise system sounds like a properly shithouse idea.

In the last 94 years there has been the addition of ONE new county in first-class cricket - Durham. There are 20 minor counties all doing their own thing and getting zero coverage while the likes of Derbyshire and Leicestershire exchange the Div 2 wooden spoon with regularity. Big counties like Surrey and Lancs are complacent giants, with large memberships and test match status guaranteeing a level of income their performances don't merit.

English cricket needs far more of a shake-up than a simple T20 city bash, but where IS the vision?

 

[Gazwag]

I get the impression that T20 is on the wain, 5 years ago all the grounds were full, but now when I turn it on the grounds look half empty. At my Cricket club a few years ago it was all T20 talk and whens the next match and whose going, now not a murmur, a few still pop down to Hove but as likely to watch 50 over cricket as T20

I cant stand the 20 over version of Cricket myself. And even as a palace fan, Sussex is my county and who I support, to support Southampton saints or whatever would never cross my mind.

Quite, football=support your local team, cricket=support your birth county

 

[mikeyjh]

In the last 94 years there has been the addition of ONE new county in first-class cricket - Durham. There are 20 minor counties all doing their own thing and getting zero coverage while the likes of Derbyshire and Leicestershire exchange the Div 2 wooden spoon with regularity. Big counties like Surrey and Lancs are complacent giants, with large memberships and test match status guaranteeing a level of income their performances don't merit.

English cricket needs far more of a shake-up than a simple T20 city bash, but where IS the vision?

While not wanting to bite, or deny that we're generally a bit crap, we have only achieved that particular highlight once in 10 seasons!