Grand Slam Cricket League: Saudi Arabia plans to invest $500 million (Rs 4347.42 crore) into a new T20 cricket league. The league will feature eight teams and follow a format similar to tennis Grand Slams, with teams playing in four different locations each year.
Saudi Arabia To Invest $500 Million In Grand Slam Cricket League
The Grand Slam Cricket League will be supported by Saudi Arabia’s SRJ Sports Investments, led by Danny Townsend, who is the former CEO of the A-League. According to a report in The Age, talks about this league have been ongoing for a year between SRJ Sports Investments and the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“The concept has been secretly in the works for a year and is the brainchild of Australian Neil Maxwell, the former NSW and Victoria all-rounder who manages Australian captain Pat Cummins and is a former board member of the Australian Cricketers’ Association and Cricket NSW,” the report said.
Eight-Team League to Follow Tennis Grand Slam Model
The report added that the main goal of this project is to address the sport’s “most pressing problems”, including the growing concerns over the sustainability of Test cricket beyond the big three India, Australia, and England of world cricket.
“While players would be well compensated, the global league has been drawn up aspirationally as a way to establish an alternative revenue source beyond cricket’s established funding model. Under that system, member nations receive income from broadcasters and ICC distributions, but it is weighted heavily in favour of the game’s superpower India and to a lesser extent Australia and England, leaving small countries struggling for financial viability,” the report added.
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If approved by the ICC, the league would be held during vacant windows, ensuring it does not clash with the schedules of other major T20 tournaments like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL).
“The travelling league would complement, not take away from, domestic T20 tournaments and was meant as an avenue for world cricket to address growing issues about its future. Smaller nations would share in the funds raised and it is hoped they would be encouraged to embrace the idea and play less unprofitable cricket,” the report further claimed.
There has been no official update on this, as both Maxwell and Townsend have declined to comment on the reported development.
“The teams would be new franchises, based in cricket-playing nations- including one in Australia – and new markets, and there would be men’s and women’s competitions. The final could be staged in Saudi Arabia.”
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