ECB announces franchises for IPL-styled T20 league

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced the franchise cities for their proposed T20 league. After the huge success of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Big Bash League (BBL), and many other T20 leagues across the globe, the English board considered it to be a high time for their own native T20 league to get underway.

Currently, the T20 competition in England is the NatWest T20 Blast. However, in order to provide exposure to the youngsters, and also in a bid to generate better revenues, ECB is keen on starting a T20 league which will run on the lines of the IPL. As per the plans, the ECB has shortlisted the year of 2020 to be the year when the first edition of this T20 league will get underway.

For now, as per the recent reports in Inside Sport, the English board has named the 8 franchise cities for the tournament. The cities that will have the franchises based on them are London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Cardiff and Southampton. London will have two separate franchisees for the Lord’s and the Oval.

Furthermore, Ageas Bowl, Edgbaston, Headingley, Old Trafford, the Swalec Stadium and Trent Bridge having been picked as other venues to host the games, English media has reported. Reportedly, the tournament will have 8 teams which will compete with one another across the 38-day time period. 36 matches will be played in the English summer. There will be four home matches for every franchise.

Broadcast rights

Also, the board is ensuring that the telecast of the tournament will be a pocket friendly one and the fans across the globe will get to witness some exciting brand of cricket. The ECB last year has inked five-year (2020-2024) deal with the national broadcaster BBC for live coverage of the league on its FTA network. Sky Sports will be the other broadcaster.

While the plan sounds very exciting from the onset, it is worth noting that a similar plan of the Cricket South Africa (CSA) could never really see the day light despite the majority of the planning been done.

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