England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke dismissed on Tuesday talk of a city franchise system being introduced for domestic Twenty20 cricket.
Clarke, speaking at the ECB’s annual general meeting at Lord’s, said fan loyalty was an important part of all sport in Britain and would have to be a factor in any attempts to emulate a new domestic league in India.
“Franchise sport has simply never worked in the UK,” he said.
“Tradition and history rather than Bollywood stars and glitz are the binding which persuade supporters to return week in, week out to our grounds — whether it is rugby, football or cricket,” the former Somerset chairman said.
“There has never yet been a successful Team London in any sport and nor is there likely to be any support for a Team Manchester or Team Leeds from traditional areas of rivalry such as Liverpool or Sheffield,” he said.
research
“When ECB launched their own Twenty20 Cup it was on the back of extensive spectator research and financial analysis, Clarke said.
“This is an exercise we will repeat before launching any new competition because we have said this tournament must be robust, spectator friendly and economically sustainable,” Clarke said.
The ECB have been in talks with Texan billionaire Allen Stanford, who already bankrolls an innovative Twenty20 competition in the West Indies, about how the US businessman might fund a new event in England.
Clarke said recent developments in India had been based on the model created by the ECB, which pioneered Twenty20 as a professional cricket format.
“Now the challenge for all of us is to continue investing in the marketing and presentation of the Twenty20 Cup to ensure it remains a brand leader for domestic competitions,” Clarke said.
great cities
“People talked of an Indian event based on city franchises but these were not city franchises as we know them other than in the greatcities of India such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai,” he said.
“This was not the picture of city franchise sport as those looking from afar might assume,” Clarke said. “Indeed all those involved wished there was a hundred years of tradition on which to build these fledgling brands.”
“I thank Sir Allen for his interest in cricket in England and Wales and most of all I thank him for believing that the ECB is the right vehicle through which to expand his patronage in cricket,” he said.
“I hope to give more details in the days and weeks ahead but I can guarantee that everyone in the game — from playground to Test arena — will benefit from this deal,” Clarke said.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
RSS