On hearing a new initiative, my first instinct has generally been the most reliable one. “A shorter World Cup? Great!” “$10 million, winner-takes-all? What is this, a game show?” But I’m less certain about the contented feeling I got in the pit of my stomach immediately after reading about the impending EPL. On reflection, I wonder where it’s going to leave the casual fan.
Twenty20 cricket is the most expensive form of domestic cricket to watch, and with huge pressure on the ECB to match or even surpass the level of revenue generated by the IPL, it’s easy to envisage a future in which tickets to a Twenty20 game hit the £30 or even £40 mark. And it’s wishful thinking to expect a terrestrial broadcaster to show interest, especially when you consider the sheer number of games involved and the prime Friday-night slot most of them would fill.
What the EPL vision reminds me of most is not its Indian counterpart, but its footballing equivalent: the bloated, joyless Premiership. A middle-class preserve, a place where corporate fools will go to show how ‘down with it’ they are, the domain of Sky or Setanta subscribers alone. We will be told, patronisingly, that this is the price you pay for higher standards.
So a few suggestions, just in case Giles Clarke reads this blog:
1) Include free admission to a Championship game with every Twenty20 ticket. Championship cricket will all but disappear from summer weekends, and it needs all the help it can get.
2) Ticket prices will need some form of regulation. The ‘Iron Law’ of cricket spectating goes something like this: the less you’ve paid to watch a game, the more fun you’ll have. World Twenty20 in South Africa: fun. World Cup in the Caribbean: not fun. 50 rupees to watch the world’s best in the IPL: very fun. £60 to watch Neil Mackenzie trickle along at two an over: really, not fun at all.
3) If you want to sell the rights to the SuperMegaEnglishTwenty20FlyingCircus to Sky for such an astronomically high sum that anyone wanting to watch it will need to buy a new dish, we won’t kick up a fuss. As long as we can have Test matches back on terrestrial.
4) Oh, and thanks for ditching the Pro40.
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Jonathan, great post. I went along to 3 Twenty20 games this summer, can’t really remember much, except Joe Denly looks like a real talent. Whilst they were all highly entertaining (stewards trying to steel the beer snakes in the stands in The Oval were greeted with the biggest cheers, mexican waves etc), cricket almost took second place.
I’m glad that we can go back to the proper cricket, and enjoy the contest. So, yes, we like 20Twenty, yes, play it at the weekend, yes, scrap the 40 over game, but please, not too much 20Twenty. Test cricket is so special and is the ultimate form of the game.
Very correct, Jonathan.
But, I believe criticism of the hypothesised prices of the “EPL”(I believe its called the “new T-20″) is slightly unjustified.You don’t have the human resources that an IPL could muster up.The prices need to be high.
My concern is more about the scheduling of such an event.
The BCCI,ECB,CA,PCB, etc .etc….. all want their leagues.Thats a lot like football, isn’t it??They don’t play much international stuff, only league formats.I’d be saddened if that were to happen.
The EPL might not appeal to you but its popularity in the big cities exceeds that of cricket.They regularly get higher TRP’s.It can’t be that bad.Hell, I’m a ManU fan too.
But frankly , it all depends on the mood of lalit moi.
All modi needs to do is lift the $5m cap & boom—there goes the ECB’s “new T-20?.I know 3 new teams will come up in the IPL.I’ll have a heart attack if there isn’t any interest shown in owning those 3 franchises by non indian billion dollar babies.
I also hope Eng learn how to play proper Limited Overs Cricket before embarking on such competitive ventures.