ROADBLOCKS

Ghosts of the past haunt CSA ahead of new T20 league

by Tristan Holme & Luke Alfred • Published on

CSA had announced earlier that the inaugural edition of a new tournament will take place later this year. © Getty

Even as they attempt to turn a corner in their bid to establish a new Twenty20 competition, Cricket South Africa continue to be held back by the ghosts of the past.

Two weeks ago CSA announced that the inaugural edition of a new tournament will take place later this year after an equity deal had been struck with broadcaster SuperSport. But having failed to clean up the mess of last year's aborted competition, the stakeholders who they left in the lurch - the prospective franchise owners and players - are not about to go away quietly.

Over the past three months, the eight franchise owners have grown increasingly itchy about the dismissive manner in which CSA have treated them, unhappy with the organisation's offer to cover just 50% of the costs they incurred last year and insisting they have been kept in the dark over the league's prospects.

Now that frustration is bubbling into the open, and looks destined for the courts.

"While we initially welcomed the news that the delayed inaugural tournament will finally be played during November and December 2018, we read to our disappointment that CSA has unilaterally decided to exclude the original franchise owners from participating in the new event," Sameen Rana, chief executive of the Qalandars franchise that won the right to operate in Durban, said in a press release.

"Our lawyers will be engaging with CSA in order to get clarification regarding these new developments with a view of charting a course forward which sees Qalandars' participation in the new event. We have been waiting patiently for communication from CSA, however since the tournament was postponed last year, interaction between CSA and the owners has been almost non-existent."

The Qalandars are not alone. Another member of a franchise consortium told Cricbuzz: "The new tournament came as news to us. I guess that we're going to be seeing them in court."

Acting chief executive Thabang Moroe confirmed on Friday (June 22) that CSA were in the process of paying each franchise owner $180,000 towards their expenses as a "gesture of goodwill". Multiplied by eight franchises, it means CSA have lost another $1.44 million, or approximately R19.4m, on top of the R181m that president Chris Nenzani had already confirmed as being lost to the project.

With legal action apparently on the horizon, that figure may grow further.

Responding to the Qalandars' legal threat on Saturday, a statement from the CSA board read: "The majority of the owners clearly indicated the important matters they wanted to be resolved, that being the refund of the deposits and matters regards cost incurred. We are planning to meet with the owners shortly to discuss other outstanding matters they might wish to discuss. Discussions with Supersport is ongoing and we will inform them of some of the future discussions with other stakeholders."

While there is still scope for bringing some of the existing franchise owners on board to avert that action and attract extra equity, early indications are that there will be six franchises who will be centrally-owned by Newco, the company set up by CSA and SuperSport for the league. While SuperSport are the minority shareholder in the league, there is a possibility that they could own one of the teams outright.

The lack of clarity at this stage - just four and a half months before one would expect the league to begin - is a cause for concern among stakeholders in South African cricket as they await details of dates, and whether domestic franchises will be involved or merely paid for the lease of stadia. Then there are the cricketers, who are still to be told how many playing spots will be up for grabs and what the money will look like.

Here again CSA are set to be held back by last year's mess, because of a clause in the compensation package they struck with the South African Cricketers' Association, who negotiated deals on behalf of both local and foreign players that were contracted last year. The clause stipulated that the foreign players would have first right of refusal on any contracts that are offered to overseas players in a league this year.

This means the likes of Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen and Lasith Malinga will have the option to take up playing spots, leaving CSA unable to move with the times - even as the need to create a financially attractive product becomes ever more important.

© Cricbuzz

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