A potential new dawn for cricket in Europe
Into the existing global jigsaw of T20 franchise tournaments, in which the pieces do not quite fit together, another piece has been added. The International Cricket Council has sanctioned a league in Europe, to be known as the European T20 Premier League. It is made up of a partnership between the national cricket boards of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands.
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The first edition of the event will be held between July 15 and Aug. 3, 2025. This fits between the Major Cricket League in the USA, which is scheduled to run between mid-June and mid-July, and The Hundred, which runs between Aug. 5 and 31. It also avoids the 13th edition of the men's Caribbean Premier League which will be held between Aug. 14 and Sept. 21, but slightly overlaps with the Lanka Premier League, which will be played between July 1 and 21. The T20 Blast in England and Wales sprawls from the end of May until mid-September, excluding August. Four days of that schedule will clash with the ETPL in July.
The concept of a European League has been long in the making. In March 2019, Cricket Scotland, Cricket Ireland and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association announced the Euro T20 Slam for six teams. A player draft was held but, apparently, financial difficulties were encountered and the COVID19 outbreak ended the ambitions of the organisers. They were also responsible for the Canadian Global T20 tournament, which will enter its fourth edition in 2025. Last year, it ran from July 25 to Aug. 11.
There is no association between those who were behind the Euro T20 Slam and those who are investing and planning the ETPL. As soon ICC approval was granted, none other than Abhishek Bachchan was revealed as a co-owner.
Indians will need no introduction to one of Hindi/Indian cinema's leading stars and the son of legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan. Previously, Abhishek's involvement in sport focused on kabaddi and football, rather than cricket. In an interview with him I asked him why he had added cricket to his sporting portfolio and why in Europe rather than India.
Bachchan explained that, because he was sent to boarding school in Switzerland when he was nine, he did not have the exposure to cricket that most children of his age experienced. Later, when opportunities to invest in cricket arose, he felt that he did not have the 'bandwidth'. His time was fully occupied by his acting career, his investment in the Jaipur Pink Panthers in the Indian Pro Kabaddi League, plus co-ownership of Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League. This is not to say that he has no interest in cricket — far from it. He is a huge fan of the IPL and the Mumbai Indians, a side he will watch if filming commitments allow.
Now, Bachchan believes that the time is right for him to invest in cricket. He believes that passion is required to spark investment interest, along with an opportunity to make an impact. This is what he feels about ETPL. A chance meeting opened up the opportunity to stir interest in a region that has not yet been able to tap into the explosion of T20 franchise cricket.
He regards T20 as the new frontier of cricket and was amazed at the amounts of money spent, not just by Indians, in buying stakes in The Hundred last week. Cricket had got to the stage where it needed private money invested in it, otherwise the game was in danger of stagnating.
In cricket's ecosystem, the privately-owned ETPL will have a unique feature through its partnership with three cricketing nations. In the ICC's T20 rankings. Ireland is in 11th place, Scotland is 13th and the Netherlands 14th. All three are ambitious to improve — Ireland is already a full member and a Test-playing nation. However, all three need additional funds to pursue their respective ambitions. A number of their players feature on the global franchise circuit. A European tournament will provide a platform for the leading talent from these three countries, playing alongside some of the best talent from around the world.
During the initial phase of the tournament's development, an interim working group has been established to guide decision-making and oversee resourcing. It is chaired by the CEO of Cricket Ireland and comprises representatives from the three cricket boards and from strategic partner, Rules Sport Tech. This is a private limited company, headquartered in Haryana, India, and set up by Bachchan, Priyanka Kaul, Dhiraj Malhotra and Saurav Banerjee. They were present at the time of my interview with Bachchan, contributing additional information about their plans for the ETPL.
They have their work cut out. There are five months to go until the league opens. Without naming names, for obvious reasons, it was clear that discussions with players and their agents are underway, as are those with potential franchisees and investors.
I asked if any of the IPL franchise owners who did not secure a stake in The Hundred have expressed interest. The answer was a warm smile from Bachchan. His involvement will no doubt help in raising exposure in India and enhancing prospects of securing media coverage. This is not to say that the plan is to bankroll the league wholly with Indian funds. There is a clear will to have local involvement.
It seems likely that the league will be based in six cities — Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The format, along with other details, is due to be revealed at some stage in the near future. Bachchan spoke enthusiastically about the prospect of the league developing world class local talent. Success for him lies in that ambition as well as in profitability.
He is confident that the business model which they have in place will enable franchises to be earning profits by the end of Year 5. He pointed out that eight to 10 years is common in franchise cricket. If Bachchan's positivity and belief are the lodestone for the ETPL, then it has a good chance of creating a legacy in Europe, a part of the world that is home to 34 of 108 ICC member countries but has struggled to establish cricket as a major sport.
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