ICC stakeholders scratch their head over Champions Trophy format in future

The International Cricket Council's (ICC) Champions Trophy after inception in 1998 (then officially known as Wills International Cup) will be hosted in Pakistan, for its 2025 edition. The defending champions were awarded hosting rights for the tournament, which will be held for the first time in eight years.

ICC attributed waning importance to the Future Tours Programme and the growing prominence of T20 World Cup, and as a result, there's a prolonged gap for the upcoming edition. The latter is now considered as the second major inter-nation event after the 50-over World Cup. A lot of experts have also opined that the Champions Trophy faces heightened contextual challenges amidst biannual scheduling of T20 World Cup.

In April, the ICC stakeholders and partner broadcasters met at its Dubai headquarters to discuss the rumination of the Champions Trophy, according to Cricbuzz. Although there were proponents within the ICC for ODIs, a conclusive determination was delayed as the benefits and drawbacks of both the 50-over and 20-over formats were exhaustively reviewed. Key metrics highlighted during the meeting indicated that active involvement and overall audience numbers for ODIs have seen a decline of over 20% since the 2019 World Cup.

The broadcasters, pivotal benefactors of international cricket, undoubtedly patronize greater opportunities for monetization in a 100-over game compared to a 40-over match. In the T20 format, approximately 100 commercials are aired per match, whereas an ODI yields 160 ads, making the overall monetization potential higher in an ODI if all slots are sold.

Arguments favouring the one-day format centred around the notion that the overwhelming success of the previous year's World Cup, held in India. An argument also mentioned that the Champions Trophy 2025 will prove to be an elastic medium to the ODI World Cup 2027.

However, those in favour of the T20 format had their valid points too. The likelihood of all ad slots being sold for an ODI is low, and the price of a commercial spot for a one-dayer is substantially lower. In fact, for an ODI game, broadcasters make roughly up to 60 per cent of potential earnings of a T20 game, making the latter more financially viable.

ICC chewing over co-hosting Champions Trophy as BCCI refuses to travel to Pakistan

Nonetheless, the paramount concern before the organizers centres around allocating the required period for the eight-team tournament. And now, an even bigger concern is that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has denied travelling to the neighbour nation, the reason being political tensions between the countries. As a result, the ICC is chewing over the possibility to have a hybrid model for the 2025 edition, with UAE being the frontrunner as the co-host, reminiscent to the 2023 Asia Cup, where India played all of its fixtures in Sri Lanka.

In such a scenario, teams except India could potentially be required to travel between Pakistan and the UAE. Due to the condensed timeframe, teams might be compelled to participate in two matches within a span of three days, all while traversing between the UAE and Pakistan. Due to the condensed timeframe, teams might be compelled to participate in two matches within a span of three days, all while traversing between the UAE and Pakistan. This renders the 100-over format suboptimal, presenting a logistical and operational hurdle.

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Now, it remains to be seen whether the ICC can convince BCCI to play in Pakistan, or the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will be able to compromise on sharing the host rights with some other nation.