Sky offered to pay around £40M ($62M) a year in broadcasting rights for a Twenty20 tournament "with teams billed as cities rather than counties when the new format gets under way" in '17, according to Elizabeth Ammon of the London GUARDIAN. England & Wales Cricket Board Chair Colin Graves "is known to be set on introducing a city-based T20 series and the additional revenue from Sky would allow for each team to pay big wages to lure international stars" similar to those in the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash League and enable Sky to market the broadcasting rights globally. While the ECB said that no final decision has been made, it is close to final proposals that "would see a revamp of the domestic T20 competition based around eight city-based teams." Sky "is keen for the tournament to be played in a three- or four-week block at the height of summer, with matches in the evenings so they can be broadcast after the end of any international matches taking place at that time." There "is real opposition among the counties to the idea" (GUARDIAN, 7/25). In London, Sam Peters wrote based on the Big Bash model, the proposed English city-based franchise "would see matches played at the eight Test venues with two London teams -- based at Lord’s and the Oval -- plus Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester, Newcastle (Durham) and either Cardiff or Bristol all hosting matches." The new league "would mean restricting Test cricket to May, August and even September, while the current Natwest T20 Blast, which has lost much of its allure since it was launched 2003, would continue largely in its current form." Both Sky and the ECB "declined to comment" (London DAILY MAIL, 7/25).
