The next full board meeting of the European Central Bank in October will make the final decision on whether the tournament will be adopted in less than two years’ time even though the existing broad- casting contract does not run out until 2019.
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The ECB are more eager to focus on the notion that this new competition will somehow attract a younger audience and increase participation than the fact that it should generate more income from a new television deal. It is expected to be played in the weeks before the city-based tournament, which will be played in July.
The plans will now be heard by the board of the European Central Bank on October 18 before a formal vote is required of the ECB’s 41 members (counties and recreational boards) to change the constitution, which at the moment states all competitions must be open to the 18 counties.
“Agreement was reached at a meeting of the chairmen and chief executives of the first-class counties, MCC and the PCA [Professional Cricketers’ Association] in the latest stage of ongoing discussions about the future structure of domestic cricket and how to drive interest and participation at all levels”. That is our stated position but we accept the collective decision of the first class counties and will play a constructive part in trying to make it work. Meetings with county chief executives and their members will follow, but the door is now wide open for an upheaval – another one – of the domestic schedule. “The next steps for us all, as a game, will be to extend the discussions and get valuable input from players, members and other key voices in the game”.
The implications for English cricket are significant.
It will end more than 120 years of counties being at the centre of the domestic game.
It also seems the European Central Bank constitution will have to be altered.
It presently states that any professional competition under its authority must include the first-class counties.
There is still a huge amount of detail to be ironed out before the proposed tournament gets voted into existence, but for European Central Bank chairman Colin Graves and chief executive Tom Harrison this is an early win. They have pushed for such consensus for some time and taken several defeats in the process.
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English cricket has taken its first steps towards a city-based T20 competition to rival the IPL and the Big Bash.
