Global T20 Canada

[ray]

This probably deserves its own topic now

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/ ... t20-league (Good read)

Highlights:

• Starts July 2018
• Runs for 3 weeks
• 6 Teams
• Squad of 15 (Minimum 4 Canadian-eligible players)
• One team to consist of West Indians (+ Canadian Locals) - West Indies is sponsor in league
• Played in 3 venues around Toronto (MLCC, Sunnybrook, Mavis)
• Plans for stadium in future

[ray]

The Mercuri Group of India certainly seem to be all-in on this project. The investment is nothing like one of the Full Member T20 ventures but will have to be very substantial, nonetheless. If they do invest in a stadium it would mean they are in for the long haul and they are seeing some return on investment.

The article quotes President Saini as saying the expected revenues to Cricket Canada might be the in the range of "six figures" for the first season. Is that guaranteed or based on sales? If it's the latter it could be a bit premature to be forecasting revenue.

So will this be a gate-driven league or will it depend on substantial on-line streaming? I would have mixed thoughts if the idea is to have "ethnic" teams (West Indies, India, Pakistan, etc) but it might help with engaging the various cricket communities at the start. This might be one of the reasons Mercuri chose to set up in Canada (Toronto) with a large, concentrated population of cricket fans of many backgrounds.

[ray]

Some concerns raised about Mercuri and everything being ready for a summer 2018 launch : https://www.thestar.com/sports/2018/02/ ... maybe.html (Faraz Sarwat)

[timmyj]

GEEEZ!!! I don't believe this! Despite the unbroken record of failures and scams
the North American cricket community continues to gobble up every announcement
of another first class scheme!! This is what they must mean by mass halucination! There's absolutely no way first class cricket can EVER
be a profitable undertaking in a country where it only has a following among a small, non-mainstream,
populace. Simple as that. Every attempt to make a go of it--Rogers, Lauderhill, All Stars, you name it--
has been a financial bust. The cricket community continues to live in a dream world where
they seem to think the laws of economics don't apply to them.

[jamesjohn70]

I remember last year at the Western Canada T20 that there were selectors watching the games. I guess they didn't select anyone?

[kushalpatel]

How are they selecting players for Global T20 league?

[ray]

^ According to the Faraz Sarwat article (linked in the 3rd post above) one of the CC directors mentioned a draft was supposed to be held, in Dubai of all places. No information has been forthcoming since and time is ticking. The Global T20 is to be discussed at a Cricket Canada special General Meeting on April 7th, so perhaps they'll announce something afterward.

[timmyj]

This whole thing is such a farce! No fool like a cricket fool!

[ray]

Interesting revelations regarding Ranjit Saini's T20 vision from the Caribbean Graphic article: http://caribbeangraphic.ca/global-t20-w ... jit-saini/.

I don't know that the single franchise (Toronto) model would work in the long term but the full league venture seems a huge stretch for a country that has few successes in big event cricket. (The United Way charity match and Sahara Cup can be counted as successes but interest tailed off over time. The 2008 quadrangular at King City was a one-off and the 2012 match at the dome was a farce). President Saini has an ambitious vision but it is easier to be ambitious with someone else's money.

[ray]

Looking at the 2018 TDCA schedule there doesn't seem to be a discernible break in July in the Super 9 schedule for players to participate in the Global T20 Canada tournament. Moreover, the three grounds mentioned (Maple Leaf, Sunnybrook and Mavis) seem to be in regular use over that period. Will the tournament go ahead as envisioned this year, will it be scaled back or postponed to 2019? The longer we go without news makes it more unlikely.

Surely the Dubai player draft should have been held by now .