Cricket South Africa and broadcaster SuperSport have signed an agreement to launch a new T20 tournament in the country starting January 2023. In a joint statement, it was revealed that plans for the still-unnamed competition featuring six privately owned franchises to be played are afoot. "We are excited by the formation of something this fresh and invigorating, which also offers the opportunity for private investment into the franchises," said Pholetsi Moseki, CSA CEO. "CSA has already received interest from a number of potential local and international investors." Marc Jury, CEO at SuperSport, added: "We are delighted to invest in a product that will change the face of South African cricket. There is an early-year gap in the calendar, so the timing is ideal. "While major decisions including the process of player rostering and salary caps remain under discussion, it was revealed that a player auction will take place at a still-to-be-confirmed date.
The first season of the tournament will begin right after South Africa's scheduled tour of Australia later this year. The tournament will see a total of 33 games with a double round-robin league followed by a playoffs stage involving three teams. The new league is another attempt from Cricket South Africa to get franchise-based T20 tournament to take off. They launched the Global T20 league, a brainchild of former board CEO Haroon Lorgat, in London amid much fanfare post the 2017 Champions Trophy. But securing stable television and broadcast deals meant that the tournament was aborted. It was replaced by the Mzansi Super League for which CSA contracted the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation to air all the matches free to air. Two editions of the MSL were played until 2019 before the tournament structure had to be altered to reflect the sweeping changes to South Africa's domestic system. CSA are optimistic that the latest venture will prove to be successful. "The parties have invested significant sums of money into the joint venture. Governance and commercial sustainability are priorities for the board of this new entity. All successful leagues are underpinned by strong domestic TV rights deals, which has been secured for this property," the board release stated.
