The men who run South Africa’s SA20 believe they have already carved out a secure corner of the global T20 market and will not be rattled by the Big Bash League’s stated desire to become the game’s second-largest competition behind the IPL.
Commissioner Graeme Smith, preparing for the league’s fourth season, pointed to the tournament’s Indian ownership across all six teams and a salary cap of R41 million (about US$2.3 million), the biggest outside the IPL. “When we started we were built up against the ILT20 and Big Bash and we set ourselves big ambitions upfront,” Smith said. “In the southern hemisphere window we want to dominate and we want to be the biggest league outside the IPL. Three years in, we’ve set the standard.”
The former Proteas captain was speaking ahead of the 9 September marquee auction, the last step before the Boxing Day opening night. “Every decision we make is around making sure that we uphold those standards,” he added. “I expect there will be a top number of leagues that will elevate themselves in a calendar cycle and that will be the priority for players, investors and fans. Our ambitions are to remain right at the top of that alongside IPL.”
Smith’s words follow a recent radio interview in which Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg outlined an equally bold plan. “It’s going to be very hard to chase the IPL, given the scale of cricket in India, but unashamedly, we want to run a league that comes second,” Greenberg told SEN. “And to do that we’re going to need to make sure that player availability and player salaries are commensurate with everything else that goes on around the world, and there’s one thing you need for that, you need money, you need investment.”
If CA succeeds in attracting private capital, the BBL would be the last of the established leagues to shift away from full board funding. The Hundred is already selling majority stakes in six of its eight sides, and several newer tournaments are wholly investor-owned. The real pinch point is the January window. The SA20 and BBL overlap, and while Australian Test stars are generally tied up with home internationals, South Africa have shown they will release their best players to the domestic league even if it means fielding weakened national XIs elsewhere.
Last season an under-strength Proteas Test team toured New Zealand while SA20 ran at home. The move raised eyebrows, but Smith argues it proved two formats can coexist. “Everyone was worried that we were going to destroy Test cricket but we’ve seen our national team go on a few years later to win the World Test Championship final,” he said. “We’ve all played our role in the eco-system.”
For now, the South Africans are content to leave the chasing to others. Whether the BBL’s fresh cash changes that balance will be known once both leagues put their chequebooks on the table this winter.
