The England & Wales Cricket Board "faces a further battle over the implementation of the new eight-team T20 city competition," with a legal agreement issued to the 18 first-class counties and Marylebone Cricket Club "setting out a proposed change to the amount they will receive for becoming a host venue," according to Elizabeth Ammon of the LONDON TIMES. Initially, it was agreed counties would receive £75,000 ($99,000) per match as a staging fee and "could keep any profit from catering and hospitality," but all ticket money would be kept by the ECB. However, some of the counties that host Test matches "argued that this was well below the amount they would budget" for hosting a T20 match. There would "therefore be no incentive to bid to be a host county given that they would effectively be evicted for a 38-day period" during which they would have to find other grounds to host one-day cup and second-team matches. To ensure the ECB receives bids from counties when it kicks off the tender process this year, "it has changed its proposal" to allow host venues to receive £37,500 ($49,500) per match plus 30% of ticket sales which could, if the competition is a success, be close to £150,000 ($198,000) per match. It means the smaller counties, which "cannot bid to be a host venue because their grounds are not big enough," will receive less money than the Test match counties (LONDON TIMES, 10/18).