ECB want to host rebel champions league tournament (your thoughts)..?

Question

The ECB are discussing plans to host a rebel Champions League tournament without the involvement of the Indian Premier League.

This has all started because

The BCCI want 50% of the rights to the champions league tournament and will not sanction players from the ICL or teams who have used them to qualify. The ECB however are suggesting a more equal share in the rights and use of ICL players.

Questions

1. Do you think it is fair for the BCCI to demand 50% of the rights to the Champions League & to not allow ICL players, or teams that have used ICL players to win the domestic trophy to play?

2. Is there any point in hosting a rebel tournament, when it wont attract star names, or much interest from anywhere besides England?

Why is the ECB intent on competing with the BCCI!!

and WHY are there so many money-grabbing Twenty20 tournaments being created?

Answer 1

Sorry KooKee, I posted a similar Q before I noticed yours, but i will answer nonetheless. I think GKing might have something, in his answer. Maybe the ECB is the only board trying to stand up to the BCCI bullies. It is sickening to see ICC, CA & others kow-towing to them all the time, and this decision to exclude Kent is just another ego tripping exercise for Modi & his cronies, who love waving the big stick over ICC.If only ICC had the collective gumption to stand up & be counted! Personally, I would like to see ECB stage such a tournament & attract all the Aus,NZ,SA & other teams away from the Indian one.

Answer 2

I'm becoming sick and tired of hearing about "new" Twenty20 tournaments every week. The boards may think that people want this, but soon, the public will get incredibly bored by it, and then who knows, something even more ludicrous, like a Ten10 format, may even be created.

In answer to your questions:

1. I don't think it is fair. The BCCI only set up the IPL to counteract the ICL, and line their own pockets. Players want to play, but they need to make a living out of it, so depriving those players, contracted to their clubs, the chance to earn their living, is wrong.

2. No, there isn't. And also, another Twenty20 tournament? To go with the Twenty20 Cup and the EPL? For crying out loud, at some counties, the crowds weren't at all good - it's becoming Twenty20 overkill. In the world, there must be about 10+ domestic tournaments, increasing all the time.

The BCCI are becoming the only power in cricket who'll have any say on the ICC's affairs. No wonder the ECB are trying to compete, but they're fighting a losing battle.

All in all, with so much money being thrown around, all the boards seem to be forgetting who has the biggest effect on them. And that's us, the paying public.

Answer 3

1. I rarely stick up for the BCCI but I'll make an exception here. They've 'set-up' the tournament and stuck up the prize money so why can't they ask for 50% of the rights, Before the Twenty20 Cup started Lalit Modi said: "any ICL player playing for any team automatically disqualifies that team from participating" in the Champions League. "No exceptions will be made under any circumstances" now this seems pretty clear to me. Cash-stripped Glamorgan obviously thought of the big picture and didn't play Jason Gillespie in the Quarter-final, Kent decided to play their ICL players so can have no complaints.

2. If the figure of £750m over 10 years which has been bounded about is even half realistic then there's certainly a point. It won't be a rebel league as such because it will be under the auspices of the ECB and with the big money on offer then the top foreign teams will be interested, where it fits in comparison to the Champions League and various foreign tours this winter god knows.

I'm not a huge fan of Twenty20 and the amount of tournaments starting up is a worry because 1) if they overlap Test cricket it leaves players having to make a choice between club and country and 2) even if they don't overlap it will indirectly lead to shorter Test series to fit them in. Two Test series aren't the way forward, a three Test minimum should be in place for all series, bar those involving Bangladesh (until they reach a competitive level).

Answer 4

What I want to know is this:

Is the ICC and the BCCI one of the same? (Note how if you remove the 'B' then the BCCI is ICC backwards) Because the ICC seems to suck up to the BCCI and its opinion on everything.

The ECB is just trying, albeit in vein, to try to stop the monopoly of the BCCI.

Answer 5

This is all getting completely out of hand. Ther eis going to be a massive split in world cricket very soon, possibly an even bigger one that that created by Kerry Packer's World Series in the late 1970's.

1. I do not think it is fair of the BCCI to demand 50% of the rights to the Champions League. It is supposed to be a tournament for all countries, not just India. As for banning ICL players, I can see the justification in that: they signed up to a non-authorised leage after all, so now have to face the consequences. We may say it is stupid, but those players knew what they were getting into.

2. I don't actually see the point in hosting a rebel tournament. The IPL has huge financial rewards for players. I can't see anything the ECB hosts have anywhere near the same monetary rewards.

3. The ECB seems to be on a suicidal mission to compete with the BCCI. They cannot compete financially, and the BCCI have too much power at the ICC. England could find themselves isolated from all the other Test countries, as most others are either allied to India, or are canny enough political operators to be able to work alongside the BCCI, even if they have to concede some ground to them occasionally.

4. So many Twenty20 tournaments are being created because it is popular, it brings in supporters, sponsors and money. It is exactly the same as the full version of ODI cricket used to be. That boomed after India won the World Cup in 1983. By the early 90's India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were playing between 40 and 60 ODI's each year.

If too many T20 tournaments are created, it will become stale, and people will stop watching.