The SA20 has overcome the same barrier that saw the downfall of other leagues such as the Global League T20 and the Mzansi Super League, signing a ten-year deal with Viacom18 for an undisclosed sum to broadcast the tournament in India. Additionally, it is being reported that the CSA has also reached an agreement with the broadcaster to air South Africa’s bilateral fixtures for the next decade.
The deal has reportdely been struck under the CSA’s asking price of US$ 100 million over ten years, but a source close to the deal nevertheless described it as “game-changing” for South African cricket, and claimed it would ascertain that the SA20 returned a profit in the first year, as opposed to the initial five-year forecast.
SuperSport will broadcast the tournament in South Africa, an interesting piece of information considering that the company also owns a 30% stake in the series while the CSA owns 50%. Former IPL chief executive Sundar Raman owns the remaining 20%.
The Global League T20, which was supposed to begin in the 2017-18 season with team owners from the Indian Premier League and the Pakistan Super League, never got off the ground because, presumably, there was no agreement in place with any broadcasting house in relation with the streaming rights of the tournament.
However, Haroon Lorgat, the former CSA CEO, has long maintained that a broadcast deal was already been agreed to and that the league was stonewalled by boardroom politics. Lorgat and CSA split up that season, and his successor, Thabang Moroe, attempted to pull off the GLT20 but soon abandoned his efforts.
The Mzansi Super League was established by CSA under Moroe, with no private ownership. The six-team tournament took place twice, in 2018 and 2019, but was unable to secure a major broadcast deal. Instead, it was broadcast on South Africa’s free-to-air service, the SABC, which did not allow the CSA to gain any revenue from the series, a major factor in its unsuccessful stint.
The competition cost the CSA more than Rand 100 million (approximately US$ 5.5 million) per season, a cost that would turn out to be too high for the board to incur. Moroe was relieved of his duties in 2020 for insubordination, and the league was suspended during the pandemic.
The Moroe era left CSA’s finances in shambles, and with international fixtures not in the best of shape, the CSA announced a third attempt at a franchise T20 tournament – the SA20 – in April this year, in what has been a last-ditch yet successful attempt at a financially favourable T20 franchise league.
