Cricket: Bosses consider private investors

The commercial success of Twenty20 leagues, including the inaugural Champions League, has encouraged New Zealand Cricket bosses to investigate opening up the six major associations to private equity.

While the formation of a domestic franchise-based Twenty20 league is a long way from reality, NZC has looked at ways they can leverage the global appeal of Twenty20 into the domestic game and the six major associations.

Otago have had a taste of the riches on offer with a lucrative short-term, front-of-shirt sponsorship from online cricket fantasy game Dream11.com, though team and sponsor would have been disappointed Otago were able to give it only two games of exposure before being eliminated at the group stages.

"That potential pathway into India and its huge economy is attractive," NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan said.

"Twenty20 is obviously the vehicle but the issue in terms of attracting [private money] is whether our domestic league is big enough. I'm pretty sure it's not something that private investors would be jumping at yet."

Vaughan said that is why the idea of the Southern Premier League, which was put on hold last year, or even a transtasman T20 league remained attractive, though fitting it into cricket's crammed calendar was another matter.

More immediate possibilities could lie in setting up formalised links between IPL franchises and the major associations, Vaughan said.

"There are people in India who have invested millions into those franchises but they are getting exposure for just six or seven weeks. If we could get them down here for matches, or work something around taking players, then it is something worth investigating."

There are obvious links to work with.

Brendon McCullum, also, has forged a strong relationship with Kolkata Knight Riders' owner Shahrukh Khan, so a link between them and Otago could be beneficial for the southern association.

Stephen Fleming, on the board of Wellington Cricket and coach of Chennai Super Kings, has investigated a number of options to tie the two formally together, but told the Herald on Sunday that the timing of the seasons made it difficult.

The Indian domestic season ran through our summer as well, meaning getting teams or even players down here, and vice versa, could be tricky.

Commercial partnerships with Indian companies were another possibility, but the Indian economy had slowed to the point where it was even a challenge getting companies on board for the big-ticket Champions League.

In that case, taking a punt on investing in a team in the HRV Cup, New Zealand's re-branded Twenty20 competition, where your team had only one-in-six chances of making it to the Champions League, was a stretch at this time.