The "vexing problem" of how to maximize revenues from domestic Twenty20 "appears no nearer a solution with the first-class counties set to reject proposals this week to create an English Premier League in 2017," according to Mike Atherton of the LONDON TIMES. Instead, the tournament "is likely to remain in its present format as a regional competition, albeit played in two blocks during July and August."
A steering committee headed by Somerset Chair Andy Nash and England Cricket Dir Andrew Strauss "has been working on proposals for a new structure for county cricket since October." There "is broad, but not unanimous, consensus concerning its suggestions for 50-over and championship cricket, but widespread dissatisfaction with the proposition that T20 should become a divisional competition, based on 2016 standings with promotion and relegation thereafter." The commercial considerations around T20 "are causing most anxiety and there is little consensus among counties who are disparate in their aims, ambitions, views and requirements." There "is a general acceptance that the domestic T20 will drive revenues and growth in the future," most likely at the expense of int'l bilateral cricket, but the steering group’s starting point was that growth should come from "within our current county infrastructure," which meant that a more radical alternative structure was never considered.
The proposal that the T20 competition in '16 "should lay the basis for a two-division competition in 2017 has met a withering response from some county chief executives and at least ten counties -- a majority -- are against it." A variety of objections "have been put forward: clubs fear the loss of revenue streams from their local derbies."
Some of the bigger clubs "fear their ability to compete in next year’s tournament should England players not be made available." Others "have expressed a concern that counties would prioritise T20 this year, to try to get into the first division in 2017, at the expense of the longer form of the game" (LONDON TIMES, 3/7).
