Cricket News: Three T20 Leagues - Overdose or fun for the spectators?
The year 2023 has started and the cricket calendar is already in action. The nature of the sport and the reliance on broadcast money, means the sport never stops.
ICC T20 TrophyPakistan are hosting New Zealand, Australia are hosting South Africa, India are hosting Sri Lanka, and three major T20 leagues are taking place or going to take place simultaneously.
The Big Bash League (BBL) is taking place concurrently with the Australia home season, which might seem unusual but has been a staple of the league's existence.
But later in January, we will see two more franchise-based T20 leagues getting underway - the International League T20 (ILT20) and SA20.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UAECricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UAECricket</a> is going to be veeery busy 👇 👏👏 <a href="https://t.co/VT1xtmjUF3">https://t.co/VT1xtmjUF3</a> <a href="https://t.co/y9Wm8Pn9WI">pic.twitter.com/y9Wm8Pn9WI</a></p>— UAE Cricket Official (@EmiratesCricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/EmiratesCricket/status/1611191884164268032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The former is the new league in the United Arab Emirates. The latter is South Africa's latest attempt at hosting a T20 tournament.
At a time when international cricket is struggling for relevance beyond the odd series here or there, the opposite is true for T20 leagues.
They benefit from sustained investment and long-term planning, meaning their future in at least the medium term is secure.
Lest we forget, all of the six SA20 sides are owned by Indian Premier League franchise owners and carry the branding of their IPL teams. There is IPL ownership in the ILT20, too.
But is it all too much for fans? Is the sheer variety of cricket on offer simply eating into the fans of a finite fanbase or creating new fans and securing the sport's long-term future?
In reality, it is probably a bit of both, but it cannot be denied that this is too much cricket. But it also offers a vital glimpse into the future of the sport on its current trajectory.
As more and more T20 leagues increase in the world of cricket, it is easy to see a time when being a part of these leagues will be more lucrative than playing for one's country.
Already we are seeing a growing number of players turning down central contracts with their board to be available for more league cricket.
And given the slow but sure slide of irrelevance that bilateral cricket is going through, franchise cricket will only continue to become an ever-more attractive proposition.
What's more, in a somewhat ironic twist, this is evident even when you look at the International Cricket Council's Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the cycle 2023-27.
Every single one of the major leagues has a 'window' of sorts; Australia are playing little to no cricket during the BBL, and England is doing the same during The Hundred.
Even countries like West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa keep their schedules clear when it is time for their respective leagues.
The IPL is an even more significant outlier in that sense, given that the period when it is hosted sees almost no international cricket take place.
And so, to come back to the original question posed - we are already at a saturation point of franchise league cricket.
But international cricket will pay the ultimate price when it comes to accommodating leagues the world over.