• End of Champions League imminent

    Cricket South Africa president Chris Nenzani says a final decision on the future of the Champions League will be taken ‘sooner rather than later’.

    At the working committee meeting in Kolkata on Sunday, the BCCI decided to call a meeting of the Champions Governing Council and put a stamp on the decision to scrap the tournament, reports the Bangalore Mirror.

    Both Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa have informally been told that the broadcaster, Star Sports, is finding it difficult to continue its association with the tournament and all three boards are waiting to hear from Star about its exit offer.

    The BCCI and Star Sports are not keen on continuing with a tournament that has failed to garner attention – from fans as well as advertisers – in its six editions.

    Since its inception in 2009, the tournament has failed to attract title sponsors, spectators or television ratings.

    ‘The discussions have been going on and we will take a final call sooner rather than later,’ said Nenzani.

    It is understood that Star, which is believed to be losing $100 million a year, will be asked to pay a hefty exit amount to the three boards.

    The only downside for the tournament to be called off permanently is it would affect revenue models of all the franchises, especially the IPL teams. Since four IPL franchises are assured of featuring in the CLT20, a part of all the IPL franchises’ sponsorship deals is based on the team’s qualification for the CLT20.

    For the non-Indian franchises, the appearance money of $200 000 is so huge that it exceeds the sponsorship revenue for most of the participating teams. If the IPL franchises are convinced about the non-utility of CLT20, then the BCCI will go ahead with the termination of the tournament. In such a case, the biggest losers will be the non-IPL franchises.