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Dear Member,
When we wrote to you back in July to introduce an overview of the game’s new strategy, ‘Cricket Unleashed’, we said we would keep you informed in relation to any topics and themes that developed in the months that followed.
With that in mind, I am now writing to let you know the outcome of the recent meeting, attended by first class county Chairmen and Chief Executives, in relation to the future direction of domestic T20 cricket.
The priorities of ‘Cricket Unleashed’ are ‘Great Teams’, ‘Inspired Fans’, and ‘More Play’. The game has for some time been considering how it can increase participation, widen its reach and most importantly underpin the financial sustainability of all 18 first class counties and the recreational boards.
Given the uncertainty around the future volume of international and in particular Test cricket, domestic T20 cricket was identified as the format of the game best suited to deliver the above objectives.
Over the last few months, work has been on-going to identify the best possible domestic structure and five prospective options were considered. They ranged from maintaining the existing T20 Blast in its current format to the introduction of a brand new ten-team city-based competition. There has been a significant amount of independent analysis undertaken including financial modelling which was presented to us.
As you may have read by now in the media, the result of the meeting was that a preferred option was identified for further development. That option was for the existing T20 competition to remain and for a new eight-team competition to be created.
As a Club we believe that all 18 counties should continue to play domestic T20 cricket, so that the existing audience can be maintained. Given the financial pressures on many counties it was also important that any new competition would be jointly owned and the financial uplift shared equally amongst all 18. The preferred option delivers those two objectives and gives scope for the game to widen its appeal by attracting a new audience.
There is still a significant amount of detail that needs to be worked through in terms of how such a competition could work in practice. These considerations are many and include how the new competition will dovetail with the existing one, the composition of the playing squads and the selection of venues. The ECB and the Counties will now work together with the Professional Cricketers’ Association to develop the preferred option into a proposal that can be shared with you, our members, for your consideration.
This piece of work is likely to take a number of weeks and we will of course continue to keep you updated as we receive more information and as the process develops. However, should you wish to share any feedback now, there is a way for you to easily do so online here.
Finally, we would like to thank you for your support during what has been a testing 2016 season. Winter well, and we look forward to welcoming you back to Trent Bridge in 2017.
Ms LJ Pursehouse
Chief Executive
Mr R Tennant
Chairman
Rather than jump-in with comments of disbelief or claiming that the turkeys have voted for Christmas, on Wednesday, I’ve waited for comment from Nottinghamshire CCC, and waited, and waited.
ReplyDeleteThe Club are yet to comment on the seemly inevitable changes to the whole structure of the English cricket season and why their representative and the representative for the Club’s members, voted against what those members, when given a forum to voice an opinion, gave that representative as their clear indication. Members said that they were opposed to the most divisive and revolutionary of proposals tendered by Colin Graves. In other words, Lisa voted in favour of the proposal that Nottinghamshire members didn’t want. Why?
We don’t know why Nottinghamshire CEO decided that the best option for the growth of cricket in the county of Nottinghamshire and the health of Nottinghamshire CCC was to not only take the best Nottinghamshire players and restrict Nottinghamshire CCC ability to play those players for the club, denying the club members and supporters seeing them in action, when called-up by England but also to take the best Notts Outlaws Twenty 20 exponents and disperse them across eight teams, at the height of the season, to play for eight artificial, city-based collectives, with no fan-base to again deny Nottinghamshire CCC members and supporters seeing them playing for Nottinghamshire. So why does the CEO believe Trent Bridge will attract more of an audience than Notts Outlaws attracts at present with its expected franchise – Nottingham “No-mates” or whatever it deems suitable.? Notts already have the biggest regular home following outside the capital and with year on year growth as it has been, the ground will be a capacity in a year or two, without changing a thing. So why Lisa did you vote as you did? Any changes to the structure
Perhaps the promise of a competition that is freely available to all on TV, raising the profile of the game back to levels that existed pre-Sky was the lure, not that a lucrative payoff suggests anything other than the competition being shown live on Sky Sports 2 only.
I should have waited a little longer, Lisa has written a letter.
Turkeys not just voting for Christmas, but plucking and basting themselves before shoving their giblets up their ****
Delete"As a Club we believe that all 18 counties should continue to play domestic T20 cricket, so that the existing audience can be maintained."
ReplyDeleteA devalued competition without the best players, is this likely to maintain existing audiences?
It's an interesting tactic to tell your current paying customers they are dinosaurs in the hope of a new audience that might be a mirage.
ReplyDeleteLisa, most points I want to make are in above comments, but I would stress that you are employed by the members. We are a members club and you have voted against the wishes and interests of the members. We are not selfish, we care about the young, but you have voted for something that will take away cricket, particularly top level 20/20 cricket, from the vast majority of people in England Wales, of all ages. Detailed analysis by Nick Hoult shows only 25% of people will have a local team, against 60 % now. So you are diminishing cricket and reducing the potential audience. Even at this late stage, please think again. Support an all 18 county competition, with a two Division set up, including "Premier League" if you like to call it that, Division. We must keep the link between fans (members and people paying at the gate) and loyal, "our" players. Otherwise we could have a a football type nightmare, where teams represent nobody, and money rules. We need money, but not slavery to money.
ReplyDeleteDear ECB
ReplyDeleteYou already have a cash cow in the NWT20 Blast. Why risk it by making changes the paying public haven't asked for?
Having a EPL isn't going to stop International T20 players swanning off to IPL in April/May or the CPL in August, that is the established "circus". So what is the draw going to be? What is your USP? What makes this so special? Having a new competition in August will run into competition with football anyway and having it earlier will be during school terms and kill off the reason for staging it in the first place, to get more kids playing the game with a raised public profile.
There are two real choices:
1 Charge more for the existing product and distribute the revenue more fairly across the 18 counties and all the boards.
2 Cut your loses and give it away to a free to a air channel and watch it grow in awareness and popularity - just pay the players less. Salaries aren't in line with what was being paid 30 years ago when compared to the average working person, anyway. Integrate minor counties into the competition and people will want to pay the watch them too.
We fully support the need to address the decline in participation in recreational cricket, which is mirrored in other team sports. Importantly we also have to inspire and excite young people as very few currently have an interest in cricket.
ReplyDeleteIn Sussex, our ambitious plans to grow cricket interest and participation for all ages and sexes is delivered through our professional team, the 247 affiliated league clubs and our developing community activities by the Sussex Cricket Foundation.
The SCL Board met the ECB on 31st August to discuss options for restructuring the T20 competition. We recognise the risks to counties, including the financial state of some counties and an over dependence on international income. We also appreciate the opportunities, including the changing media landscape and the need to have meaningful cricket available free to view to attract more followers.
The Board position is, while we are open to change, we strongly prefer tournaments that feature all 18 First Class Counties. Accordingly we wanted the ECB to consider two options for T20. The first option retains the current NatWest T20 Blast, including all eighteen counties, reworked with a view to maximising the TV revenues.
The second option was with a city based additional tournament where we asked ECB for further comfort about many significant matters including: market research showing evidence of demand for a new team tournament (particularly given difficulties of other sports in the UK in this area); mitigation of marginalisation risks to non-host counties (in particular ownership, being seen as second class citizens, players moving to host counties, names/brands - with the unfortunate precedent set in the Women’s Cricket Super League); potential creep of city only teams into other domestic formats.
In essence we need evidence to support the assumption that an additional T20 tournament, that may be restricted to seven cities, will have a transformational impact resulting in a step change in the number of youngsters attracted to cricket when only eight of the matches will be available free to view. We also need to weigh the benefit of an additional £1m plus per annum per county against the risk that the T20 tournament involving eighteen counties becomes a devalued offering and that the ten counties that do not host the city tournament are set on a path of gradual comparative decline.
Both the above options that we wanted to be further developed would include a full County Championship programme, which is the traditional bedrock of the domestic season and the retention of a 50 over competition.
At the meeting of all First Class Counties and the MCC at the ECB on 14th September we proposed that the ECB Executive pursue these two options but this did not receive support. We therefore could not support the city tournament option without proper consideration of an alternative at the same time.
The majority of counties and the MCC agreed to ask the ECB Executive to work up details of a new eight team T20 competition to be staged in addition to the existing NatWest T20 Blast. Sussex Cricket will continue to participate in the process in a constructive way as we are not ruling out this option. However there is a huge amount of detail to be worked through before the ECB is in a position to seek agreement to a schedule majoring on the new brand city teams Accordingly the SCL Board will meet further with the ECB on 29th September.
Our Members are invited to a meeting on Wednesday 12th October at Hove at 7.00pm when we can explain the latest situation in detail and seek views.
Rest assured we are doing our best to ensure that we adapt for reasons of sustainability for future generations of Sussex Cricket. Equally we are taking account of the wider interests of cricket in this country.
Jim May,
Chairman, Sussex Cricket
22nd September 2016
Nottinghamshire members are being completely ignored and not consulted about the future shape of top level domestic cricket in this country.
ReplyDeleteAfter it was announced that cricket’s professional game in England and Wales agreed an approach for a new eight-team T20 competition to be staged in addition to the existing NatWest T20 Blast, Leicestershire County Cricket Club has taken up an opportunity from ECB Chairman Colin Graves to come to address our Members.
DeleteThe club’s Members will have the opportunity to put questions to ECB Chairman Colin Graves and Chief Executive Tom Harrison, as well as Leicestershire CCC Chief Executive Wasim Khan MBE and Paul Haywood.
A forum for Members will be held on Thursday, October 13 in the Charles Palmer Suite at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road between 6.15-7.45pm.
Very interesting to co.oare this with what is being said now. I have to hear a rational case for the Hundred, and in 2016 Lida was adamant that T20 was the way forward
ReplyDelete