A major new Twenty20 event on a similar scale to the 50-over World Cup is reportedly on the table in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) tournament hosting rights tender for its 2023 to 2031 broadcast rights cycle.
The ESPNcricinfo website reports that a new men’s T20 Champions Cup has been proposed for 2024 and 2028, comprising of 48 matches. This would be the same number as last year’s 50-over one-day international (ODI) World Cup held in England and Wales.
Under the proposal, which was first put to the ICC board in October, there would also be an ODI Champions Cup in 2025 and 2029, alongside the established T20 World Cups in 2026 and 2030,
and the ODI World Cups in 2027 and 2031.
The ICC has been steadily increasing the positioning of T20 cricket, reflected in the evolution of its events calendar.
In April 2018, the ICC opted to scrap the ODI Champions Trophy, and while the new 50-over Champions Cup, with just six teams and 16 games, is similarly modelled to its predecessor the T20 version is much grander in scale.
Indeed, it is proposed to have just seven fewer matches than the T20 World Cup, which this year takes place in Australia.
ESPNcricinfo said ICC member countries have been given under March 15 to submit expressions of interest in hosting rights for the tournaments across the 2023 to 2031 cycle.
It noted that this deadline comes ahead of the next quarterly ICC meetings scheduled for late March, despite the events proposal having only received provisional approval.
The ICC is believed to argue that it needs to stage at least one major event per year in order that it can provide a consistent injection of events revenue to direct to the sport’s smaller countries. However, the proposal could yet face opposition from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the sport’s three commercial heavyweights, who will be keen to ensure their own events are not impacted.
The proposed women’s events calendar also includes a Champions Cup in the T20 and 50-over formats, but both events would be played by six teams over 16 matches.
Under the terms established by the ICC for bidding, the host nation for each men’s and women’s event would retain ticketing, hospitality and catering revenues, while the ICC would keep all
other commercial and broa dcast rights.