Champions League T20 competition canned

The Wellington Firebirds will miss out on prizemoney and an overseas trip after the Champions League T20 was cancelled. Photo / Getty

The Champions League Twenty20 tournament has been officially discontinued with immediate effect.

The competition, due to feature domestic champions the Wellington Firebirds, has been cut after just five tournaments.

The news comes as a blow to New Zealand cricket, with the Firebirds a chance of making significant prize money for both their organisation and NZ cricket - due to any prizemoney won being spread between every Kiwi association.

This was set to be the Firebirds' first appearance at the lucrative tournament, and the winner of the tournament was set to earn $3.7 million, while a minimum of $300,000 was set for the taking.

There may now be less incentive for New Zealand sides to bring in big name imports for their T20 competition - the Georgie Pie Super Smash - if the potential of big overseas prizemoney isn't on offer for winning the local competition.

Low sponsorship, spectator and television interest is reportedly behind its axing.

"Unfortunately, off the field, Champions League T20 wasn't sustaining the interest of the fans as we had hoped," BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said. "This decision was made after consultation with all our commercial partners and meeting the contractual obligations of all parties involved."

There is hope that a similar competition can take its place.